Chuck vs The Midnight Owl
by East Coast Captain
Summary: They thought he was gone forever, eight years after going missing William Bartowski is found but he is not the same son they lost all those years ago meanwhile a heinous plot is uncovered, can Agent Stephen Bartowski with the help of the mysterious spy known as the Midnight Owl stop it? 29 years after Chuck vs the Goodbye
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** I wrote this little piece like three years ago, I thought after the ending where would Chuck and Sarah go, these two unlikely people meeting each other and helping the other grow as characters? So this came to mind because they hinted that Sarah will regain her memories little by little. This storyline I left out some things and cut some characters that I will be introducing, I felt things in some areas were lacking. A lot of the work was done by PJ Murphy so I thank him for helping me get this off the ground last time. So please and leave a little review about what you think don't be shy! :D

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Chuck but I do the protagonist and several OC.

* * *

 _Highland Park, Illinois_

 _June 15, 2014_

 _6:31 pm_

Sarah's screams tore through the delivery room. She took a deep breath and grabbed the rails of the bed. The former spy had been in labor since early this afternoon. They had been visiting the Woodcombs at their home in the suburbs of Chicago when her water broke right middle of their BBQ party. The labor had approached its seventh hour as the sun was setting outside. Her loving husband, Chuck, was by her side holding her hand. And like any good husband in this situation, he ignored the pain as she squeezed his hand far too tightly.

"You can do it Sarah. Just a little more," Chuck said soothingly. He kissed her hand. After everything they've been through the last few years from almost losing Sarah to Quinn, to losing her memories of their life together they deserved a happy ending.

Sarah nodded and began to push again, the pain ripping through her body. Chuck hated seeing his beloved wife in pain; he could only whisper words of love to her comforting the former spy as best he could. After the events that transpired two years ago, her memories had been slowly returning to her. It had been a dark time for Team Bartowski particularly Chuck and Sarah. Nicolas Quinn was an obssessive waste of oxygen. He blamed all his failures on not having received the Intersect in the first place, as well as Chuck for being the recipient. Thus, he was willing to do everything and anything to get what he believed he deserved including nearly destroying Sarah and Chuck to get it.

"I can see the head Mrs. Bartowski ," the OB/GYN said calmly with hands at the ready. "Keep pushing. We're almost at the finish line."

"Get this kid out of me or someone is getting hurt!" she exclaimed as the pain ripped through her. All the injuries she's had in her spy career didn't compare to this, the act of giving birth is like no other.

Sarah pushed one final time screaming at the top of her lungs. The cries of a baby followed soon after. Sarah slumped back against the pillow in complete exhaustion. The nurses cleaned the infant, letting a terrified Chuck to cut the umbilical cord. They then wrapped the newborn in a bright blue blanket with a rabbit printed on it and presented him to his proud parents. The baby boy had calmed down.

"It's a boy!" the nurse announced happily with a huge grin handing the newborn to his nervous father. The bundle squirmed in his father's arms in shock over coming into the world. He had a patch of dark brown hair on his head, his face was squishy and pink.

Chuck took the baby boy into his arms, as Sarah was too tired to hold him. She reached up to cradle the child's face with her hand. Eyes not unlike her own stared back at her.

"He´s beautiful," Sarah whispered as the exhaustion began to overtake her. She smiled happy that she was able to complete this mission, to bring their baby into this world.

"Go to sleep, sweetie. You were incredible today," Chuck said passionately.

"Love you," she whispered as she closed her eyes drifting off to sleep.

"I love you, too."

Chuck gave Sarah a gentle kiss to her forehead and took a look at his newborn. The infant looked tiredly up at his father and Chuck noticed his newborn son had blue eyes that looked almost like his wife's eye color.

Chuck looked up as there was a knock on the door. He saw his mother, Ellie, and a certain toddler named Stephen Bryce Bartowski. The nurses finished with Sarah by helping to deliver the placenta then left the family to enjoy this special day.

"Hey, Daddy. Stevie was asking for his parents," Ellie said, holding her nephew in her arms. Devon had gone home with Clara while they stayed to support Chuck and Sarah with their second birth.

"Dada," Stevie squeaked, happy to see his father holding out his arms. He looked at his mother who was asleep. "Mama," he said as he pointed a little finger at his mother.

"She's asleep, little buddy."

Chuck handed the baby to his mother, who held her youngest grandson for the first time, almost reminding her when Chuck was born.

"I'd like for you to meet someone." Chuck grinned as he took his oldest son into his arms. The nineteen-month old wasn't old enough to understand why he was here or what the bundle in Grandma's arms was. Chuck stepped carefully over to his mother, and little Stephen saw the squirming bundle in his grandmother's arms. His eyes stared in wonder at the newborn baby.

"This is your little brother," Chuck said proudly.

"Baby," Stevie squeaked in awe. A pair of brown eyes gazed in awe into his baby brother's blue eyes. Stephen extended a little hand touching the infant's chubby cheek, Ellie took a picture of the adorable sight. The baby squeaked leading Stephen to smile warmly.

"He's beautiful." Mary whispered tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. The former CIA agent once known as the Frost Queen had missed much of her children's lives including seeing them become full fledged adults but no more. She was going to be there till the day she dies.

Ellie had tears in her eyes at the scene that played out before her, the respected doctor could barely believe this was happening after so much that has happened between her baby brother and Sarah. After all of the struggles they went through, they were finally getting the family they deserved.

"Did you decide on a name?" Ellie asked with tears in her eyes.

Chuck thought for a second and knew of a good name. It was one of the names he wanted in case they had a boy.

"William," Chuck replied, looking at his youngest son. "William Benjamin Bartowski."

* * *

 _Three thousand feet above the South China Sea_

 _August 10, 2033_

 _10:24 pm_

Nineteen-year-old William "Liam" Bartowski sat in a chartered plane watching the ocean waves below...what he could see of them, anyway. Ten other interns had joined him for this flight. He was reading the local newspaper translated into English, the front page reporting about a mysterious computer hacker wreaking havoc across several Asian countries. The top computer experts in the region were dumbfounded.

The plane had taken off from Singapore just fifteen minutes ago after a ten day stay. Singapore is a global commerce, finance and transport hub remaining high in many areas. Singapore's territory consists of one main island along with 62 other islets. There are four official languages on the island: Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English. English is its common language; most Singaporeans are bilingual.

His boss, Dr. Eduardo ''Eddie'' Ramirez was talking on his headphones to the control back at NASA. The young man could not believe his luck when he was chosen earlier this year as an intern to NASA of all places, and he was only in his first year at Madison Area Technical College where he was studying Horticulture.

"It seems the mission is going along smoothly, those revamped space suits worked just like I knew they would after all I did design them." Ramirez announced with a victorious grin, shutting off his headphones and meeting the gaze of his shaggy-haired protege.

Liam smiled. Last month, humans set foot on the fourth planet from their parent star, the lifeless world that is Mars. It was a mission for the ages, a gigantic team effort for Project Red Sunrise. It took many of the greatest minds on the planet more than a decade to make this a reality. Thanks to the Galileo fusion drive engine invented by several engineers on the project, it took the international team of ten astronauts only eight weeks to reach the fourth planet instead of the standard eighteen it took for satellites and unmanned equipment earlier in the century.

"I knew they would make it," Liam said proudly. Liam's older brother, Stephen, could never pronounce his name correctly as a child, always calling him Liam instead of William, and it stuck. It used to annoy Liam, but then his older brother probably saved him a lot of ridicule of having such a formal name as William growing up.

"By the beginning of next century we may be calling Mars our second home and after that, beyond this solar system." Ramirez sat back and grinned self-assuredly. "My father would have been proud. I wish he would have lived to see this."

Juan ''Johnny'' Ramirez was a civil engineer, the son of Ecuadorian immigrants. Eduardo promised that he would make his parents proud. Unfortunately, his father never got to see many of his accomplishments, having been one of the millions of victims of the Pluto Plague, a deadly man-made virus that struck in the spring of 2022. It swept out of control for three months across the globe until midsummer when a cure was discovered and distributed. However, the cure came too late to save his parents.

Liam's ePhone buzzed in his shirt pocket. The ID indicated it was from the Bartowski homestead. He smiled, picked up and heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hey sweetie. Just checking in," Sarah said. His mother worried at times. She kept it only to days that ended in the letter 'y'. "How was the conference?"

"Excellent. We had some great speakers, ate some Chinese food…which for some reason, they just call it food…and we took off just fifteen minutes ago," Liam replied. "How's Dad?"

"Skyping with some of the team. Again." She laughed merrily looking at Chuck in the living room having a jovial and animated discussion with the young team of Caltech grads.

Liam shook his head and smiled. His father was one of the most hard-working men he had ever known, as was his mother. They both ran a successful electronics company called Carmichael Tech. It was headquartered on Main Street back home in Wisconsin and they were also in the middle of setting up a green technology division as well. That work ethic certainly passed down to him having worked at an antique restoration shop in town during the summer when he was sixteen, but he certainly learned a great many things. They also owned a great deli and a book store that sold all types of literature on the opposite side of the HQ.

"What a surprise," Liam replied with a chuckle.

The dark sky flashed outside as the plane flew into a raging storm. The plane began to shake. The university student could hear the rumbling of a thunderstorm outside.

"Liam, are you there?" Sarah asked with a lot of concern. She heard the rumbling of a thunderstorm through the line.

"Yeah, Mom. Just some turbulence." He took a quick look out the window as rain sprayed on their windows, the plan had entered into a storm. "How's Steve? I haven't heard from him in since last Friday."

In many ways, William's calm and passive disposition was like a foil to his older brother's more rambuctious and gregarious personality. William is kindhearted, notably compassionate and patient almost to a fault, acting often out of protective selflessness for his loved ones a lot like his father.

His brother had traveled along with their childhood friend and Steve´s girlfriend, Lara, to the South American country of Costa Gravas where she was born. Lara use to be Liam's former crush, but he had gotten over it quickly when he saw how close she was getting to his brother during senior year. Liam knew they had feelings for each other for a few years now but he didn´t let them know that.

"He actually called me this morning. Lara is teaching him Spanish." Sarah laughed at the thought of Steve trying to learn Spanish from a not-so-patient instructor. William laughed.

''How's Diana?''

Diana Jane Bartowski was the middle child of Chuck and Sarah. She was the most responsible and somber of the siblings graduated at the top of her class in high school and was a straight A student took her work very seriously.

His mother was about to respond when the plane rumbled more violently this time causing Liam to drop the phone on the floor. A flash and an explosion followed, sending everybody into a panic as both engines were struck. Everyone held on for dear life as the engines failed. The plane went down, and everyone was screaming. The last thought that William had before losing consciousness was of home.

"Will!" cried a frantic Sarah as she heard the chaos, completely powerless to do anything. The line went dead.

The plane skipped twice off the surface of the ocean before falling in. The fuselage filled quickly with water because of the damage the lightning caused. Ramirez floated to the surface in his life jacket with the other interns. The scientist looked around for the one intern who was missing, but it was too dark to see.

"William!" he called, looking around for the lost young man in the darkness of the sea. Lighting flashed in the sky above.

* * *

 _Eight years later…_

 _New York City  
_

 _December 15, 2041_

 _10:28 am_

The sun rose over the skyline in this metropolis of four million, ushering in a new day. Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which is a separate county of New York State. The five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898.

Lara Bartowski stirred, trying to put an arm around her bed mate but finding the other side of the bed empty. It seemed her significant other was already awake, and judging by the pleasant smell of pancakes in the air, he was making breakfast. The attorney threw the white sheets off her naked body and slipped on a red silk bathrobe. She stepped into the kitchen of their Queens loft apartment located in Long Island City and saw a familiar sight. A shirtless Steven wearing only a pair of boxers; he flipped a last stack of pancakes onto a second plate. To say it wasn't an unpleasant sight to wake up to would be underselling it by a landslide. Yesterday they celebrated her twenty-ninth birthday. In fact, they had so much fun, that they came home after one in the morning and 'celebrated' some more.

She wrapped her arms around him from behind. They would be celebrating two wonderful years of marriage next May their wedding had been done in a Klingon way reflecting his nerd heritage. The beautiful Lara whose maiden name Guerrero reflected her personality, with her silver tongue and fiery temper, was the perfect counterbalance to Stephen's eternal Peter Pan syndrome.

On the window made of digital glass it indicated the weather as sunny and cold reaching just above thirty degrees fahrenheit. It was another beautiful day in this city. They had moved here after graduation. It was the one thing she missed about Costa Gravas more than anything else; temperatures that made you want to mainline frozen margaritas instead of coffee.

"Morning," she said happily squeezing him feeling his impressive physique. Stephen was a consumate athlete, living by the motto his sensei imparted on him: To heal the body one must train.

"Hope you're hungry. I made banana pancakes. Grandpa Steve's specialty," he turned in her direction and grinned gallantly. One of the reasons she loved her husband was his chivalry and his good heart.

"That I am, Agent Bartowski," Lara purred as she stood on her toes their lips locking. His hands went for the strings holding her silk bathrobe together. The phone began to ring.

"I'll get it," he said, chuckling at their romantic moment being interrupted.

He picked up the phone, holding it to his ear. The Caller ID indicated a number from outside the country, it was an British Columbia area area code.

"Agent Bartowski speaking…" Steven answered cheerfully.

The FBI agent's eyes widened as soon as the person on the other side line told him the reason for the call. His cheeky demeanor turning serious in a split second.

"What!?" he exclaimed, shocked to the core before calming down. "Of course, sure."

Lara looked worried; it wasn't a usual call from the office. This was something far more serious. Steven threw the phone on the sofa, completely speechless from the call. His heart was beating faster than usual. His mind was racing, he was usually so prepared but not for this.

"Steven, what's wrong?" asked his wife apprehensively.

"It's…uh Liam." The name of his dead brother rolling awkwardly off his tongue. It had been a long while since he said his name but he thought of him quite often. He loved his baby brother to death, they were like ying and yang. Starsky and Hutch.

The Latina beauty gasped softly, fearing the worst. For Lara, Liam was her best friend throughout childhood and high school. She regretted when they lost contact, rarely seeing each other when she went to Boston University around the same time she got together with Steven.

"He´s alive. They found him, he´s in a hospital in Canada right now." Steven said his voice quivering. He was shaking. Lara put her arms around him and held him tightly, letting him know that she was there for him since it was her family, too.

Steven wondered how he was going to tell his parents. For two months after the crash, they searched and searched but to no avail. Eventually the regional authorities called off the search, and after six years he was declared dead in absentia. But now he was alive.

 _What happened? Why was he found now? And why was he in a hospital in Canada?_

The questions raced through Steven's mind, but he knew he had to put them aside. Delay was not an option. he pressed the speed dial on his phone reaching his parents back home in Wisconsin.

* * *

 _Hillyheim, Wisconsin  
_

 _December 15, 2041_

 _7:35 am_

The town was a picturesque, tight-knit, peaceful place founded by Swiss farmers and Dutch craftsmen and many others in 1892 and it was inhabited by only nineteen-thousand people, located 70 minutes by car ride from Chicago. It was a friendly place, and everyone knew each other. A majority of the buildings were made of stones and bricks, and the townspeople liked it that way. It was a quiet place. In fact, it was so peaceful that the last murder happened over forty years ago.

The Bartowski house was a beautiful two story, red brick American Craftsman style home with a red door and a white picket fence around it. They had it commissioned in early 2017 moving in by the summertime and it was an hour and a half away by plane ride from the Woodcomb house in the North Shore of Chicago. Chuck and Sarah fixed it up and made it into a worthy home. It was a noisy home growing up with two rambunctious boys, but it was as happy of a home as any in this pristine area where they raised a family and laid down roots.

Chuck was outside working on the old 2025 Ford Pick up truck while Sarah was inside preparing for the 50th anniversary of the town's founding. It was still six months away but it was prepared in advance, the celebrations were going to be jovial and fun. Chuck and Sarah always got an early start to the day, a habit kept over from when their children still lived in the house. Those days were hectic, waking up early in the morning during weekdays making sure they had their breakfast and sending them on their way to school.

The phone rang. "Answer," Sarah said to the voice activated phone.

"Hi, Mom." It was her oldest son, Stephen. She wondered why he sounded so subdued this wasn't his normally jovial self.

"Hey sweetie. what´s up?" she asked cheerfully as she got a plate from the cabinet.

"They found him, Mom. They found Liam," he said solemnly.

Sarah gasped softly unconsciously dropping the plates, which shattered on the floor in several pieces. Chuck hurriedly came inside seeing something wrong. He saw his wife shaking, tears rolling down her beautiful face.

"Sarah, What´s wrong?" he asked nervously.

"It's Liam, Chuck, he´s alive." She said happy tears streaming down her eyes. After nine long years, their son was back. They prayed all these years for their son's return.

* * *

 _Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada_

 _December 15, 2041_

 _5:45 pm_

Night had already fallen by the time Bartowskis arrived in the third largest city in Canada, a half moon hanged in the dark sky. A late flight left at four in the afternoon, and an already impatient and anxious Sarah went up the seventh floor with her husband, her son, and his wife trailing behind her trying to keep her calm. Sarah wanted her baby back and nothing would stop her from getting to him.

The doctor attending Liam spoke to them before going to his room. It was a lot to take in, after so many years their son was back, his brother was back. William Bartowski everyone in the family had a major soft spot for the little geek, he had a contagious smile much like his father and could make anyone laugh. Unfortunately, his kind, naive nature often got him bullied and taken advantage of. Stephen remembered in school protecting him from bullies.

"He was shot in the shoulder by a mugger when she checked him we found he has scar tissue on thirteen percent of his body. For years he had amnesia, getting it after the plane crash, and only in the last few weeks has his memories returned to him. I would caution you to be careful because the William you lost may not be the one that was found."

The doctor opened the door to the room where Liam stood looking out the window at the bright city lights as they shone in the night, Vancouver was a beautiful city so much has changed in the last few years for a second he could see his former self the carefree kid who smiled so innocently. He turned and gave his family a smile, Chuck and Sarah gasped he certainly didn't look the same but that was to be expected. "Hi, guys."

Sarah crossed the room and wrapped her arms around her baby boy who returned the embrace. Sarah cried happily as she had her youngest son back. Chuck soon joined the hug, crying as well. Steven stared at his younger brother in awe, seeing how much he had changed. Gone was the lanky one-hundred and thirty pound shaggy-haired boy with an idealistic view on the world. In his place stood a man with short hair and much more toned.

* * *

 **Cast**

 **Zachary Levi -** Liam Bartowski/Chuck Bartowski

 **Dominic Cooper** \- Stephen B. Bartowski

 **Jamie Gray Hyder -** Autumn Bernal

 **Mark Dacascos -** Doctor Edmund Qiu

 **Cote de Pablo -** Lara Bartowski

 **Yvonne Strahovski -** Sarah Bartowski

 **Natalie Martinez -** Maria Lobo

 **Christopher Heyerdahl -** Jacob Mulcahy

 **Giancarlo Esposito** \- Peter Briggs

 **Edward James Olmos** \- Dr. Eduardo Ramirez.

 **Adam Baldwin -** John Casey **  
**


	2. After all these Years

**Author's Note** **:** I wrote this little piece like three years ago, I thought after the ending where would Chuck and Sarah go, these two unlikely people meeting each other and helping the other grow as characters? So this came to mind because they hinted that Sarah will regain her memories little by little. This storyline I left out some things and cut some characters that I will be introducing, I felt things in some areas were lacking. A lot of the work was done by PJ Murphy so I thank him for helping me get this off the ground last time. So please and leave a little review about what you think don't be shy! :D

* * *

 _New York City_

 _December 15, 2041_

 _9:17 pm_

Secretary of Science & Technology Ed Ramirez rehearsed his speech in his head for the hundredth time that day behind the stage at the docks. The former NASA scientist could hardly believe when he was named to serve in President Korinthos' cabinet during her final term just after her re-election last year, after former Secretary Guillermo Copernico had retired to his native Oregon. Tonight they were christening a spacecraft known as the _USS Roanoke,_ built by some of this country's finest engineers and scientists. It was capable of reaching speeds upwards of 254,000 mph much faster than anything they had decades ago.

 _If only William were here, he sadly thought._

Ed thought back on his missing protégé, who was currently presumed dead since they never found his body despite searching for two whole months. The young man had a gift and fascination for this type of thing, even though he majored in something different. Ed was so impressed with his work that he personally recruited him for _Project Red Sunrise,_ where he did amazing work. He was saddened when the young man was declared dead, he gave his parents an apology for not protecting him.

"Secretary Ramirez will say a few words now," said Secretary of the Navy Elmer O'Halloran, a native of Chicago, who smiled at his colleague.

It was his turn to speak, clearing his throat, Ed walked out into the stage and looked into the huge crowd of journalists, tech enthusiasts and high school students. He always loved inspiring young minds, so many bright ones out there waiting to be discovered.

"Thank you, Secretary O'Halloran. I stand here before all of you tonight to showcase the scientific and engineering prowess of this fine nation. The _UMG Roanoke_ is a marvel of the ingenuity of several different people, the wealth of this country..."

A pain in his chest stopped him from continuing. Everyone watching looked on concerned wondering if the secretary was feeling well. Something wasn't right, Ed always got a monthly health check, he was always concerned about his health.

He cleared his throat. "Sorry, had a chili cheese dog about an hour ago. Damn you, Nathan's and your awesome food!" Everyone laughed. "As I was saying, this nation's true wealth is in its people. Its scientists, its nurses, its engineers, its doctors, its firefighters, its police officers..."

The astrophysicist stopped again. His arteries constricted, his heart struggled and jumped inside his chest ready to burst out, and his breathing quickened. He clutched his chest, the last thoughts Ed had were of his family and how much he loved them, and the scientist keeled over, falling to the ground. He never moved after that.

* * *

 _Hillyheim, Wisconsin  
_

 _December 16, 2041_

 _6:41 am_

The sky turned a fiery orange color as the sun rose over the landscape, creating some very stunning scenery from the forest that covered most of the region to the lake. The young man had been awake since an hour ago, not that he got much sleep the prior night, processing many different feelings inside him like the pending calamity that he felt approaching and the reunion with his family. William figured he must have been declared dead _in absentia_. In fact, he heard his parents talking about a funeral they had only three years ago they had a casket and everything. Many assumed he had died in the plane crash, and because no body had been recovered, a death certificate had been issued by the state where he lived in at the time of his disappearance.

From what he could deduce, an urgent matter had developed. The memories returned like a dam bursting in his mind. It was like the spy was his old self again but mixed with the memories of the last eight years, torn between the idealistic, naive kid he was before and the battle hardened spy he is now. The youngest Bartowski had seen so much and done so much in the last eight years. Most people go through their entire lives without enduring what he had for close to a decade. He wasn't that same boy that he used to be, something inside him had changed it was all because of that retched woman that occupy his nightmares.

He heard the front door open downstairs. Standing at the window, William peeked outside as Steve and Lara talked with his parents in the driveway before saying their goodbyes. He watched wistfully, remembering a happier time before all of this, when the three of them were younger and naive about the ways of the world. Remembering when Steve's biggest problem was whether sets or reps at the gym were more important. Remembering the little crush he had on his former chess opponent, Lara, as a boy, how the three of them always went out to enjoy life, Lara loved cooking Costa Gravan cuisine he especially loved her Papas rellena. When he had returned last night, it felt like the missing pieces of a puzzle had fallen in place as Lara shed tears while the three of them hugged.

Pressing the key on the touchpad keyboard of his old computer, the thin, almost translucent monitor lit up. Liam opened a comm window and established a link to an address in San Jose, Costa Rica. In a few seconds, a familiar face appeared in the window. It was his associate, Doctor Edmund Qiu. He was the manager of their team while Liam was the field operative. Liam knew that wasn't his real name, but he never asked him or tried to find out for himself. Edmund was a jovial, witty man who had a penchant for cracking jokes and telling stories of many of the people he's operated on over the years but he was an honorable and kind man who cared a lot for his fellow man.

''Will? Dude, you're okay," the forty-six year old orthopedic surgeon sighed in relief before his face contorted in annoyance. "Idiot. I told you not to go after that son of a bitch."

"You think I was going to let that bastard off the hook so easily? Especially for what he did?" Liam said angrily. Like his father, he had a sense of justice and his determination to do the right thing has the habit of inspiring those around him to act against their nature and do the right thing themselves. Like his mother before she met his father, he can be ruthless with his enemies especially if they are heinous in their actions.

Qiu sighed in defeat, wondering why he even bothered. The younger man barely listened to him in the five years they worked together. It reminded the doctor of the first time they met in that death and destruction, he was tending to an injured soldier when he saw a boy barely a man bring in an injured soldier on his back.

"So how's our favorite gear head?" Liam asked with a grin, referring to their resident mechanical engineer Autumn Ripley she was a miracle worker with gadgets provided him with most of his equipment. She had worked for them for only a year, but Liam had known her for five years. For all of the brilliance she possessed, she was not exactly the world's most reliable person, having freelanced for many years. Still, having saved their lives and vice versa gave them enough of a working relationship where they could bring her into the fold.

"Annoying as ever, but she's a diligent woman. She tracked your movements with a satellite. I had my doubts in the beginning but she's come through for us many times. Remember that mission for the King of England?" Qiu said with a laugh.

"His Majesty was pretty calm under fire," Liam replied with a smile. They had so many adventures together scouring the world and protecting others. Qiu was a truly remarkable individual.

"Though the Prime Minister sure had a weak bladder."

Liam laughed before the smile on his face disappeared and his demeanor turned solemn. "Something has come up, Qiu. We have a lot to talk about that's probably best said in person."

"I agree. Meet us in Minneapolis," Qiu said before closing the link.

Liam sighed softly. The secret agent didn't get the chance to talk to his family, not even on the plane ride back home. It's not that he didn't want to, but he wanted to complete the sketch of a machine he memorized The atrocious operative who shot him had been carrying some kind of mechanism for this machine. Liam didn't know what it was but he had a few ideas. He may have postponed whatever they were transporting but that was temporary at best.

Taking out the folded sketch, he looked over it before scanning it with his silver watch. It instantly presented a detailed holographic projection of the blueprint.

"Qiu is going to like this," he muttered looking intensely at the schematics. Experience has taught him that one had to be adept to survive in this line of work and always expect unforeseen variables.

The spy heard the chatter downstairs and sighed. He figured he had to face his parents sooner or later. They hadn't gotten a chance to talk, but it had been so long he didn't feel like the carefree boy he once was who could go to his parents any time he wanted. They always knew how to make it better, but what he did for a living was something else, something they could never know about. His father nearly lost his mother to that life. He already designed the cover story in his mind, but fooling his mother was much easier said than done. She could spot a lie like a broom finding a dust bunny under the bed. As a kid, he could count on one hand the number of times he successfully lied to his mother and still have fingers to spare, but his skills in gilding the lily had improved considerably over the last eight years. They had to in order to keep them safe.

Liam came down the stairs and walked into the familiar living room with the familiar fireplace where the family snuggled together in happiness on so many nights. Throwing the sketch into the flames, he spread it around with the poker to make sure it was burnt into nothingness. Some new pictures, highlighted by the wedding picture of Steve and Lara, adorned the mantle above smiling and happy. But many of the photographs he remembered were still there, including Halloween 2019, when he was dressed as Batman and Steve as Superman. Of course, the fact that Steve didn't have the eponymous red trunks on the costume and the picture where his big smile was covered by braces, it was the sort of memory that brought a genuine smile to his face remembering the way he used to be.

"All I know is that he's come back to us," Sarah said as Chuck and she entered the house and walked into the living room. Their eyes landed on their youngest son, who was looking at a frame. They almost couldn't believe their eyes after so long, their baby boy had returned to them after nearly ten years. He had changed from that lanky, shaggy-haired boy into a man. In fact, lanky was the last thing that he was. A tall muscular frame stood in the place of the boy who left the nest nine years ago. Sarah really lamented the loss of those curls.

"Morning Mom, Dad," he said as he put the frame back in its place. The young man cleared his throat, an awkward silence following after. "Where are Steve and Lara?" he asked, feigning ignorance. William wanted to catch up with his brother and Lara, those two were married now.

"Back to New York. Something urgent came up, but they promised to come back next weekend to spend it with you," Chuck said with a smile.

"How'd you sleep?" his mother asked tenatively.

"Like a baby. That hospital bed was very uncomfortable. It's good to sleep in my bed again."

"Son, we..." Sarah tried getting the words out but she couldn't seem to find them. It was so surreal having her son back after all these years, she dreamed of his return but years ago they had moved on.

"Mom, I know. I am happy to tell you guys everything that has happened to me in the last eight years. All you have to do is ask."

Liam didn't react to his parents' request any more than that, but he knew he was going to have to give a slew of false answers. In order to protect his family he would have to lie to them every single day. They couldn't know who he was now. But lying to his mom with her bullshit detector was no easy task.

"William, it's been a long time, we don't want to force you do anything you don't want to." Chuck said to his son. The doctor was specific; William had amnesia for many years, and they would have to be careful with him. But that was only scratching the surface.

"It's fine, Dad. I want to, really."

Liam took a seat on the synthetic leather recliner. His parents sat on the couch across from him. He almost felt like a child again, being scolded by his parents for when he misbehaved. His mother was always the bad cop and his father almost always gave him the benefit of the doubt. This situation was different, although he wasn't quite the troublemaker his brother was.

"I woke up on an island, part of an archipelago somewhere in East Asia. To this day, I still really don't know where. I was found by monks who were part of a monastery that had been there for centuries, going by how old the building was. They had little outside contact, so there was no way for me to communicate I was alive. I worked around the monastery for three years, fixing anything they needed, and they paid me with food and shelter."

"What happened next?" Sarah asked, immersed in the recollection of the last few years.

Liam exhaled. He was actually surprised his mother was buying this, she had a potent bullshit detector, but maybe she was so happy to see him again, she was giving him the benefit of the doubt like his father normally would. "Five years ago, they were selling their farm produce to some fisherman from nearby when their boat couldn't start up. As a courtesy, I fixed it for them. It turns out the chairman of the Buy More had been on that boat, undercover on some eccentric sabbatical. He was so impressed with my work, he gave me a job as a...designer, tech guru, the boss' assistant. Basically his personal fix-it guy."

"The Buy More?" Chuck chuckled lightly. "Talk about coming full circle! Although I wish the Buy More was back then like it is now."

 _The Buy More has definitely become more interesting than in your day, Dad,_ William thought _. And that's saying quite a bit._

"Well, in fairness, I haven't met any women who wanted their phones fixed," Liam said with a humorous twinkle in his blue eyes. His parents once told them how they met all those years ago in Burbank, California. It was something out of a spy novel, and the comparison was not unfounded. Apparently it all began with his mother's ex boyfriend Bryce Larkin whose dossier he had the chance to read some years back.

 _Though I have met some women with colorful histories to say the least..._

"But I'm getting to what happened in Canada, I was heading to a business meeting when the son of a bitch who shot me made off with my backpack containing my passport. I asked the hospital to contact my next-of-kin. It's weird. Maybe I should be thanking that guy for shooting me, given how the old memories started flooding my mind."

"I'm so sorry," Sarah whispered, her eyes welling up. Her own experiences with amnesia had nearly cost her everything she worked so hard to gain, reverting back to that cold spy she once was before Chuck melted her heart once again. Everything almost gone because of the lust for power of one madman. She cursed Quinn and wished she had made his death more painful than just a gunshot.

"We looked for you even after the authorities stopped. We searched all over the place, I called in a lot of favors and even got your Aunts Carina and Zondra to help us. We looked and looked for weeks and weeks but every lead was a dead end. It was like you vanished from the face of the earth," she said, unable to stop tears from trickling down her cheeks.

 _In a sense I did,_ William thought stung by the memory of smiling so innocently. He knew he had to protect his parents with the lie he was telling, but that didn't make seeing his mother in pain hurt less.

"We buried a box in the backyard with your favorite book, your Xenomorph Queen action figure, and the blanket you loved for the first four years of your life." Chuck said, his eyes shimmering with emotion. "We knew we had to move on,"

 _As you should have, mom._

"Especially last year, we were in London when the whole thing happened. We thought...we thought we saw you...I swore but it was a stranger..."

Sarah broke into tears. Chuck put an arm around his beloved Sarah as she sobbed into his cardinal red and white Stanford sweatshirt. They had stopped crying over his disappearance years ago but now that he has returned all those feelings have bubbled to the surface.

 _You did see me and you didn't,_ Liam thought. _All my memories were nearly back. You can never know who I am now. I have to protect you, Steve, and Lara from my world. Could you look at me the same way if you knew?_

Trying to distance himself from his parents to protect them, however, couldn't stop him from being overcome with emotions himself. He put an arm around of each of his parents. "Mom, Dad, it's okay," Liam assured them. "I understand. You guys have a life to live."

William stepped back. "So what's been happening around town?" he asked to lighten the mood.

"Still the same old town just as you left it," Sarah said with a smile as she wiped away her tears. "Mr. Finley came out of retirement this year. There was both a sigh of relief and groaning around town, depending on whom you talked to."

Liam laughed. Jorge Finley was his eighth grade history teacher; a very strict man born and reared in Iowa who did not tolerate a lot of misbehavior. Although Liam didn't make much trouble in school, he always dreaded his parents meeting up with him at teacher conferences. He thought he was done with Mr. Finley until he became principal of Hillyheim High School. Thankfully he mellowed out become a mentor figure to many of the students. Although Liam pitied any of the kids in the two history classes Mr. Finley was going back to teach.

"I like the beard, son," Chuck grinned.

Liam stroked his beard. It had been a while since he shaved, all the calamity of the last few days having taken up his time. He suspected the calamity was far from over since that human retch still out there plotting to complete his heinous endeavor.

"Yeah, and you've got the Reed Richards look going. Awesome," he quipped. His father had gray temples in contrast to the curly brown hair adorning his head, although Liam certainly hoped it was because of his father's age and not any recent trips he may have taken into space.

"How about pancakes for breakfast?" asked his mother from the kitchen. "Still like blueberry?"

"Yeah, that would be...good." Liam smiled. He needed a healthy dose of normalcy right now, and what was more normal than homemade blueberry pancakes?

* * *

 _Minneapolis, Federal Capital  
_

 _December 16, 2042_

 _11:08 pm_

A few months after the pandemic ended, the geopolitical landscape of the world changed drastically. Nations unified and broke apart, the United States had revamped itself entirely.

Liam was glad his parents bought his cover story. He had called Qiu this morning to tell him everything. The two had been working together for over five years, waging a cloak and dagger against all sorts of nefarious elements. The older man had been peeved at his partner for taking such risks but nowhere near as their hacker, Autumn. They were to meet in the Capital this very night.

Liam smelled the cold night air as he walked to the park from the rail station. The city was quiet this night, and there were barely any people in the Park. Qiu sat on a bench deep in thought; his breath coming out in puffs against the dropping temperatures. Edward Qiu was the chairman of the Buy More, although since it had evolved from its days as a retail store, the name was purely symbolic now. They had invested in clean energy, environmental clean-up, and medical research.

As calm as he was, the petite brown-eyed brunette standing next to him was anything but. She was staring at her blue nail polish. The only thing she had patience for was when she was working on her many gadgets, such things required finesse.

"Where the hell is he?" she growled irately. Autumn was not known for her patience, and a six-hour flight from Costa Rica was never the cure for that.

"Relax. He'll be here," Qiu replied with a tired sigh.

As if on cue, Liam came walking up the sidewalk. "'Sorry I'm late. I was in court today to declare myself alive again," he said apologetically. "Try not to die; there's just too much paperwork to go through if you're wrong."

"Liam, we told you not to go after that slimeball," Qiu spat out, incredibly annoyed and upset with his associate, even though it was par for the course when the young man went against his advice.

"You piece of shit!" Autumn exclaimed angrily looked up at him. "What the fuck is wrong with you, you could have been killed! "

"I handled him just fine. He shot me because I let my guard down for only a second," Liam said, waving it off. "Not my proudest moment, I admit, but I have been in tougher situations."

"You are a fucking moron, darling," she said, using the nickname she bestowed upon him when they met. They outwitted each other so many times over the last four years, it became almost a game to her. She used to send him cards taunting him with red lipstick on the bottom. She always signed each card 'Darling', having picked that up in her native Belfast, Northern Ireland.

"OK, kids. Settle down," Qiu chuckled, amused by their bickering.

"She started it," Liam said, pointing a finger at the brunette, who stuck out her tongue in return.

"Mortley escaped Savor," Qiu said as his tone took on a more serious demeanor. Savor was a notorious prison in Western Brazil. No one had ever escaped it…until now, that is. Joseph Mortley was an international criminal who began his life of crime in his native Canada. He dealt in various illicit activities such as arms dealing, murder for hire, political assassinations, and political intrigue. He had clashed with them several times over the last six years.

"Mortley isn't an ordinary man," Liam said solemnly. He wasn't thrilled, but wasn't surprised either. He figured it was only a matter of time before Mortley would escape. The man had a brilliant but highly Machiavellian mind.

Liam activated the hologram he brought, showing to Qiu and Autumn. "I memorized a machine design in that facility before I followed that son of a bitch to Canada."

"I don't recognize the design," Autumn said as she looked over the drawing. She had a knack for invention and machinery. They had even worked on several little inventions that were a great aid in their missions.

"We picked up some electronic chatter on several encrypted networks," Qiu said. "New York came up a lot. Autumn has been trying to decipher the rest of it, but whatever Mortley is planning, it's likely going to happen there."

"So New York it is. I can't believe it's been eight years, but my brother and his wife live there."

Liam rubbed his beard stubble. Qiu and Autumn raised their eyebrows. Liam rarely talked about his life before amnesia, but flashes of information came back to him over the years, including his real name.

"Well kids, we better get moving. We have a lot to do before we get to work." Qiu said walking side by side to the rail station.

* * *

 _New York City_

 _December 17, 2042_

 _7:00 am_

New York City was an ever-changing place, almost unrecognizable, though much of the skyline had been remained the same in the last half-century. Some new buildings littered its world famous visage. It once held a stable population, topping almost twelve million by 2021. However, after the Pluto Plague claimed so many lives and sent others away, that number dropped significantly. Due to the heat wave that plagued the East Coast, the casualties peaked when the cure was discovered. It was in the last decade the city had seen a revival in art, science and culture. It was a return to things that made the old republic great in the first place. Many of the residents of the city were artisans, tradesmen, and scientists. It was as if Greenwich Village had spread to the other boroughs.

The trio set up their base of operations in Long Island City, which was known these days as the Lisbon Quarter since half of its residents were Portuguese immigrants. Qiu and Autumn kept themselves busy setting up the computer systems, interfacing them with the Hephaestus Network. It was a highly-sophisticated system that Liam and Autumn designed; she even dubbed it their 'child'. One of its features allowed them to remain undetectable, though they still upgraded it to keep up with the latest software. Most of their equipment was here, but the rest of their stuff was still being shipped to the city.

Liam exercised with his wooden dummy, called a Muk Yan Jong, hitting and punching the martial arts training tool to release his stress. He would often do it when thinking over his missions. Autumn gulped down the last of her _Brica,_ a Portuguese coffee popular in this neighborhood, to stay awake. She was running on only three hours of sleep she got in a local inn near their base. After all, protecting the innocent and stopping the bad guys was a very interesting and tiring job, to say the least.

"You sure you should be doing that? You were shot only four days ago," she inquired.

"Exercise is good for the body," Liam responded with a shrug. They say you can't keep a good man down but William hasn't thought of himself as a good man in a long time.

"The NOI are after Mortley, especially after what he did last year," Qiu said, recalling the Honolulu sinking that became news for three days straight.

"Two hundred sailors and ten NOI agents perished in that," Autumn said gravely.

"Including Director John Kent. He trained many agents…like one Stephen Bartowski," Qiu said, looking up at Liam knowingly.

Autumn saw the picture of Stephen. "He looks a bit like you. Kind of the Clark Kent to your Bruce Wayne." Autumn giggled at that thought.

"Steve had always been quite the Boy Scout," Liam said as he donned a gray synthetic leather jacket. "Although he once stole my Uncle Casey's Humvee when he was seventeen to impress Lara. Mom punished him by sending him to live with Uncle Casey in his ranch for that summer. Uncle Case made that poor kid work from dawn to dusk to serve as a very valuable lesson."

"You've never done anything like that, sweetie?"

"Nope," Liam said quietly as cleared his throat.

"Don't forget to..." Qiu looked up and saw that Liam was gone, as if vanished into thin air. He has gotten used to it over the years.

"Connect, I know," Liam said through the computer connection that they used to communicate, startling Qiu. "Well then, let's get to work."

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	3. That Which Lives Within You

**Author's Note:** Hello folks, thank you all who have reviewed so far. So please tell me what you all think about this. Part of this chapter was beta'd by PJ Murphy a few months ago it was supposed to be a tribute fic to my late grandmother but I decided to incorporate some of it in this chapter. Thank you and enjoy!

I wrote this little piece like three years ago, I thought after the ending where would Chuck and Sarah go, these two unlikely people meeting each other and helping the other grow as characters? So this came to mind because they hinted that Sarah will regain her memories little by little. This storyline I left out some things and cut some characters that I will be introducing, I felt things in some areas were lacking. A lot of the work was done by PJ Murphy so I thank him for helping me get this off the ground last time. So please and leave a little review about what you think don't be shy! :D

* * *

 _ **September 6, 2033**_

 _ **East Asia**_

 _ **9:54 PM**_

The blue-eyed boy let out pained whimpers as tears began to flow. He sat in the corner of the stark white room the room that seemed to shrink, the boy barely remembered what day it was he supposed it was early September by his calculations. He counted his fingers all ten of them, he still had them.

''One, two, three, four, five, nine, no it's five lights it's always five lights!''

''Yes Doctor Wilkes, I know it's five lights!'' he roared. William muttered incoherent phrases while staring at his hand moving.

A warm hand caressed his cheek and he opened his eyes, gasping at who he saw. It was his grandmother, Mary, smiling down at him. His eyes widened, not believing what he was seeing.

"Grandma?" he gasped, tears escaping his eyes. It couldn't be her; Mary Bartowski was seven thousand miles away in Chicago with his aunt Ellie and Uncle Awesome living near them all these years since leaving Burbank for a new opportunity. She baby sat the Woodcomb children when their both of their parents worked saving lives.

"Hey little one," she cooed with a smile. That was her nickname for him. His grandma Mary, a woman whose life was thing of spy novels. She had been recruited by the CIA straight out of Pennsylvania State University showing much promise, in her first mission she met a young MIT graduate Stephen J. Bartowski the rest as they say was history.

"Grandma, you're here to rescue me aren't you! Mom and dad are with you, I know it!" He looked up hopefully at her. Liam knew his parents were not far behind.

"I'm afraid not sweetheart, it's not that simple little one." She took a seat at the foot of the bed. "Those bastards who are doing this to you, you can overcome them, you can make them all pay for their sins."

"These bastards they have me in here, I want to kill them all especially that rat faced prick!" he growled something in his eyes had changed, the behavior modification they were using it didn't quite have the effect they are looking for something inside of him had awakened.

"You've always had that strength. Do you remember when you jumped into that lake two years ago saved that kid from drowning? You didn't hesitate you were commended by everyone. Find that which lives within you!"

''All those scum, you have to make them pay for all of this, for what they did to you. Make them pay William.'' she sneered into his ear. His eyes grew dark with hatred and bloodlust, he knew they had to be punished for their sins oh he would make them regret their crimes.

''They have pay for this, I will make them!''

* * *

 _Lower East Side_

 _December 17, 2041_

 _7:30 am_

Stephen Bryce Bartowski was not having the best start to the weekday, Jacob Mortley the man responsible for the heinous sinking of a Naval ship in Honolulu last year had escaped a notorious prison in South America, it should have been done and over with but the man was much clever than Steve or anyone would have anticipated after he had eluded authorities for the last two decades, it was rumored that he was the leader or affiliated with Ouraboros, a hostile organization that was believed to responsible for the unleashing of the Pluto Plague and its leadership is also theorized to be remnants of the Ring but only rumors. They reached out to the intelligence community who were not able to find anything.

The one codenamed Captain America for obvious reasons always came to work early so he would hit the office gym on the second floor, Steven was a consummate athlete, he had been all his life in fact he was the captain of the high school Baseball Team, the Hillyheim Eagles won the state championship three years in a row. He lifted himself up against the metal bar, his favorite work out was a good ole fashion pull up, to train the spirit one must train the body.

The other thing occupying his thoughts were his younger brother after so many years he was finally back, safe and sound. After eight years, it was quite an emotional shock to see each other once again. His little brother had always occupied his thoughts ever since going missing. Liam before he disappeared was like a puppy dog with his infectious smile and cheerful attitude he was a perfect foil to Stephen's mischievious ways. Liam had truly transformed, Stephen couldn't quite pinpoint it, something in his eyes had changed he was cracking jokes and impressing him with his smartass ways.

Coming into the gym was Maria Guerrero who happened to be the younger sister of one Lara Bartowski, she happened to be a fellow FBI agent after leaving the Coast Guard two years ago, she had just been transferred to the FBI office in NYC. She grinned mischeviously.

''Wassup Stevey!'' she exclaimed jovially.

''Maria?'' he grinned dropping on the mat. Lara said her little sister was coming ever since being transferred from the Puerto Rico office. Lara was twenty-one months older than Maria. Maria lacked her sister's fiery temper, Lara had quite the potty mouth and would give anyone a piece of her mind if they crossed her, Maria loved punk rock while Lara preferred Salsa and Jazz, while Lara on a Friday night preferred going to dinner with friends, Maria loved going to a good monster truck rally.

''I figured I'd find you here,'' She said playfully punching him in his shoulder. He took a gulp of his water bottle.

''Lara told me about Liam,'' Her jovial disposition turned serious. ''How is he?''

''Left him back home, baby brother is fine but something inside of him has changed he's not that puppy dog you use to tease back in school,'' Steve cracked an amused grin remembering that shaggy-haired boy who had a naive and idealistic view of the world. ''He also has muscles.''

''Really?'' She raised an eyebrow remembering the tall and skinny young man whom she always teased.

''I should ask him about his work out regiment,'' Steven joked. His brother looks like he has an intense training regiment.

''Bartowski! Guerrero!'' the authoritative voice of Senior Agent Peter Briggs, youngest of a Trinidadian father and Irish mother who had over thirty years in the agency back before when the agency was still NCIS.

''Yeah boss?'' asked Steven cheekily.

He rolled his eyes at his normally cheerful subordinate. ''Some guy from MI-5 is here, he thinks he may know about Mortley´s next scheme,'' he said.

The atmosphere turned deadly serious, everyone in the agency wanted his head on a pike. They all headed to the third floor of the six story building. A tall man with blue eyes who resembled Tom Selleck slightly with the mustache.

''Agent Franklin Newton,'' Agent Franklin announced in a brisk Estuary accent. They all shook his hand.

''Last year there that bit of a mess in London with Mortley, the bloke attempted to plunge the city into winter in the middle of the bloody summer, this unknown operative only known by the alias 'The Owl' stopped him, we don´t know anything about him, what he looks like, but he's a clever bastard, almost like a damn ghost''

''An urban legend started by intelligence agents with too much time on their hands,'' Steven scoffed having heard the stories ever since becoming an agent six years ago.

''Whoever it was left us with some valuable information a few months back, we may think he may be here in the city,'' the Agent grinned in a very James Bond-ish way giving a data disk to Briggs.

''Give my best to Director Quigley,'' Briggs said politely.

''Of course,'' he said courteously before leaving.

Briggs looked at the metallic data disk in his hand. He felt something off about that gentleman from the MI5.

''Have Hennie look this over, I´ll be in my office,'' he said handing it to Steve who nodded.

Just rounding the corner of the NOI office, Agent Newton ripped off a mask that was Agent Newton revealing Liam underneath, he threw it in the trash along with the gloves that made his hands look older there were barely any people in the street, rush hour would begin within a few minutes soon this block would fill up with people going to work many lived in the outer boroughs while some commuted from the nearby bedroom communities in New Jersey.

''That should point them in the right direction,'' said Qiu in his ear.

''They don´t know Mortley, he´s a slippery devil,'' Liam stressed. Whatever Mortley was planning it was going to involve a lot of dead people and that is something he couldn't let happen.

''True but that´s part of our M.O. we stop them and thwart their plans but leave them for the authorities just like superheroes.'' Qiu quipped.

''Your accent was atrocious,'' Autumn added.

''I'm working on a German accent,'' Liam said with a smirk on his face.

''How´s the decryption coming along?'' he chuckled taking a more serious demeanor.

''Whoever wrote this program is a bloody genius but I love a good challenge I think I can crack it in a bit,'' Liam imagined a very mischievous grin on her face, she was a very skilled computer hacker on top of having a knack for machines who had used her talents to commit crimes but only against evil doers, she herself had caused havoc in the authoritarian country of West Ping, they had accused their democratic neighbor East Ping of sabotage no one knew anything.

Liam´s iPhone XV0 vibrated in his jacket pocket, it was an unknown number. His parents called him last night on the bullet train as he made his way to New York, they had been worried about him, it had been eight years that he was missing, a lot of things had happened to him in the last eight years many things that could put his family in danger but coming back as if nothing had happened was a lot for him, he had to put a facade for their benefit, he wasn´t the same naive boy who talked too much and was too honest for his own good.

''Yeah?'' he said.

''Hello Detective, how are you doing this fine morning?'' spoke a very articulate Canadian accent. Jacob Mortley, a promising aerospace engineer who decades ago decided to put his engineering skills to worse use helping criminals. A known underworld figure who may or may not have been connected to the defunct Ring involved in arms dealing, fencing and importing stolen goods.

''Mortley, I heard you were plotting some dastardly plan to take over the world, how's life been treating you?,'' Liam asked derisively. ''You should conduct a better interview when you hire your henchmen, the one you sent after me in Munich was sloppy he´s in a jail cell being charged with trying to kill the mayor, then this guy who you dug out of that dark hole he was in, I kicked his sorry ass into the Pacific, turn yourself in Mortley you know I will find you and I will stop you just like I have all the times before.''

''Your brilliant mind is equal to my own but if you should interfere in my plans again you will regret it, that simpleton Qiu and that sprite but remember I don´t make empty threats,''

Down the block just from the FBI office was the headquarters of the New York Police, there was a hum that could be heard people on the street, the building suddenly started to move. The Neo-Gothic building was suddenly swallowed by the ground, debris and dust flying into the air.

''Goodbye detective,'' Mortley chuckled darkly before hanging up.

Liam could only stare at the hole which the building once stood up then his thoughts began racing in hyper speed calculating and theorizing when his eyes widened in realization.

''Damn.'' He muttered under his breath.

It was twenty minutes later that Liam arrived back at the hideout which was under the warehouse accessible only by a secret passageway. Autumn had recently dubbed it, the Sanctum Sanctorum, a state of the art facility that made the Castle from his parents' day look like an actual castle full of machinery and gadgets not yet available to the public.

''He´s insane,'' Liam seethed. ''But I think I might know what he´s planning to do at least with what.''

On the holographic screen, it was all the news, the sinking of police headquarters at least ten dead so far crews had been working for the last half hour to get people out. Police Chief Kim Gordon had been out in New Jersey when she heard of the calamity that took her former workplace.

''That blueprint, we're running modelling programs on it, I want to know what it does,''

Qiu raised an eyebrow, Liam was unconventional but he always trusted in his instincts.

''You sure that´s wise?'' Autumn asked apprehensively.

''I´m a little bit crazy but if we can build that machine we may know how to stop it, you always love tinkering.''

''We can jury rig something together,''

Liam´s ePhone rang again and he recognized it was from back home in Maine. He walked to the corner putting up a cheerful facade he answered.

''Hey dad!'' he exclaimed with a smile plastered on his face.

''Hi champ, I just called to see how you were doing, the police headquarters was swallowed by the ground.'' said Chuck tensed.

''What?'' Liam gasped in false shock. ''I´m at the office trying to fix a little problem, you know us engineers we are professional problem solvers after all!''

To his family and friends, he was a mild-mannered Engineer having worked for the company for over eight years having been promoted twice. He was officially an engineer, when one was in his very unconventional line of work, it required a cover to fend off suspicion about his true vocation.

''How are you settling in?'' Chuck asked his youngest son.

''Its been okay. Work is a little hectic with this project we´re working but I´ll call him later on. Thanks for calling dad, means a lot.'' Liam said genuinely a smile flashing on his face. One thing he missed about his old life was his father, he always knew how to make a guy feel better.

''You know we´re having the annual Christmas party here at the house this year, _everyone_ is coming, Ellie and Alex are even flying out to help Sarah cook before the festivities, Morgan said he wanted to help but Alex forbade him,'' Chuck laughed at his oldest friend who even at nearly sixty years old was still a child at heart.

''Everyone knows huh?'' Liam said rubbing his five o'clock shadow.

''I called your aunt Ellie last night, she was practically screaming in my ear about you, I´d say the news has gotten around by now.'' Chuck responded.

''Got to get back to work, love you dad,''

''Love you too champ,''

Had the secret operative looked over, he would have seen his once amicable adversary's eyes shimmering with emotion. Autumn rarely saw his vulnerable side and she did it really surprised her from time to time. Qiu looked over it was very rare for him to have seen a human side to his long time partner.

''I think we can make some parts here, the rest we got to buy I know a hardware store not far from here,'' Liam said absentmindedly.

''Bring back some breakfast too, I´m starving!'' she exclaimed.

''Same here!'' Qiu echoed.

 _TO BE CONTINUED..._


	4. Dangerous Devotion

**Author's Note:** Thank you all who left such wonderful reviews. I also would like to thank my beta PJ Murphy who is indispensable who cleaned this up in the beginning may he be okay wherever he is. This story does contain some Cyberpunk elements, it's a fascinating genre. Hope everyone is enjoying the story. I did a little RE-EDITING since I used my tablet to upload the old version. But nothing much.

* * *

 _December 17, 2041_

 _New York City_

 _8:21 am_

The professor's corpse looked so pristine, as if the man was in a slumber…in an eternal slumber never to wake up, Liam noted as he stared at the corpse dressed in his best suit, a black blazer with a dark blue tie and his best black loafers. Doctor Ed had always been fascinated by the stars, what might be out there in the void that's why he chose to study Astrophysics.

Liam silently entered the funeral home like a specter of sorts, the funeral directors downstairs hadn't even noticed. The young operative knew for certain that the professor had no history of heart problems; the man jogged every morning for the past forty years. Not to mention an aortic dissection is incredibly rare, which meant he did not die of natural causes as he suspected when he heard of his unfortunate death. He narrowed his eyes and spotted a miniscule red spot on his index finger near the nail so small it could be mistaken for a mosquito bite. Taking out his optical magnifier, a device which allowed for a greater enhanced image, it looked like a pinprick of sorts, as if he stubbed his finger on a thumbtack...or a needle. A hypodermic needle, Liam thought. It was the perfect delivery system…fast, efficient, and deadly in the right hands.

"Hmm..." Liam studied the small hole, his blue eyes taking in the image. He knew a number of modern "death ray" devices that could induce a heart attack such as the infamous Norseman device which could poison an entire room, although that one hadn't been used in over twenty-five years. But there were a few very nasty custom-made cocktails designed by rogue chemists that could cause such a thing in an otherwise healthy person.

He heard footsteps approaching telling him it was time to go. He was gone like an apparition.

"We still have Mister Chung to attend to," said Gerald "Gerry" Mortini, the owner of the funeral home into his ePhone."His family wants him impeccable, and they demand no less." . Given how immaculate the empty Ramirez viewing room looked, Liam realized the Mortinis didn't spend over 50 years in the business giving out mediocre service.

William headed back to the Sanctum Sanctorum with that hunch still picking at him like an itch he couldn't scratch. His mind was in overdrive running every possible theory.

"Media lunas, facturas with sausage and cafesito." Liam nonchalantly placed the synthetic wooden food containers on the desk.

"What's the matter?" Autumn asked before her brow instantly furrowed. "I know that look."

"Secretary Ramirez didn't die of natural causes. He was murdered." Liam grabbed her desk chair and rolled her to another port at their computer station taking at a seat. "Autumn, see what you can find on what the Secretary was up to the last few days. I'll finish decrypting the program."

The spy just nodded. She knew his hunches were something, it must have been his ninja training.

"Coming right up." She began rapidly researching the professor, looking for recent documents, doctor visits, conference calls, the works. William smiled when she quickly found what they were looking for. Autumn had amazing hands in more ways than one.

"Looks like the secretary had been a client of one Lara Bartowski for a month now," Autumn said, reading the information in front of her. "It seems he was suing this Canadian company called IronTech because they were violating several trade agreements and he found several inconsistencies during his investigations. Sounds like they were doing some off-the-books deals."

Liam raised an eyebrow while his fingers were like a blur on the keyboard. This whole mission just got a little more perilous; he did not like this new development one bit. Lara had to be in danger at the minimum because of this. Mortley tended to use fronts for his illegal activities. He was good at it, when his schemes were foiled those fronts unsurprisingly filed for bankruptcy. Mortley has tried kill Liam many times, usually by the use of hired guns. Qiu called him the luckiest man on the face of the Earth…or the unluckiest, given his clocktower apartment in Buenos Aires went up in flames thanks to Mortley. But it was replaced, and as his dad always said there is no crying over spilt milk.

"Her office is nearby," Liam said, breaking the last of the encryption. A series of codes and letters appeared in the hologram screen. "Another puzzle; hopefully this will be easier than the last one. It's a series of codes and numbers. You solve them."

Liam threw on his gray trench coat, dusting himself off breathing in deeply before turning to Autumn. "How do I look?"

Autumn blinked wondering why he just asked that, the lavender shirt with the khakis and Converse shoes, he looked like an everyday professional and that is the cover story. She's seen him without clothes before and he makes suits look James Bond. "You look inconspicous."

Appearances were everything in his very unconventional line of work, you dress the part with a few touches here and there and it was sold, the most harmless looking fellow could be the deadliest opponent ever. As his sensei once said deception and theatrics are fundamental when he was getting his butt tossed on the floor during his training.

"Eat, food's getting cold." Liam said as he went up the stairs.

An audible rumble broke the silence, Qiu covered his mouth stifling a laugh as a blushing hacker solved the numbers on a notepad.

Liam walked several blocks to a series of rowhouses where Lara and Laura Law Offices stood, a nascent firm founded only four years ago by his sister-in-law and her law school classmate, Laura. From what he understands Lara is quite the attorney defending the innocent, she's on retainer for the city.

He caught her just in time. He chuckled when he saw a coffee in her right hand and her satchel in the other. It had been her dream since she was a little girl. Her parents had been killed during a military coup in 2016 presided over by a former general looking to return to the old ways after Goya gave the country back to its people. Her father Pedro, a prominent lawyer, criticized the grabbing of power. He was immediately silenced along with his schoolteacher wife, Elena. Lara and her sister, Maria, were smuggled out by Pedro's twin brother Marco, a mild-mannered Gastroenterologist in contrast to his defiant and silver-tongued brother. It was said that Lara was most like her father and he couldn't disagree with that.

He knew the perfect way to approach her without raising any flags. She had a knack for suspecting deception; it's undoubtedly how she maintained such a good standing within the city and made her an effective attorney. He ran over to the other alleyway, coming to the next street, where she'd have to pass by him to get to the courthouse. He saw her coming.

"Hey Lara!"William called waving at her. She smiled. Lara recognized the tall, now muscular frame of her childhood friend, her hubby's younger brother. When he disappeared Lara along with her Stephen had traveled to Asia with Chuck and Sarah to look for the missing young man but after two months they gave up, it was like he had vanished into thin air. Between her and Stephen, William was the light that shone upon them, the three Muskateers.

They walked together. "It's...awesome to have you back around, so much has happened, we thought you were dead it broke all of us." she said her voice breaking, eyes shimmering with emotion, tears welling up in her eyes. William also missed her, his chess opponent, the last few years but he was back with his family.

''I'm back Lara, you see standing here in all my 6'2 frame.'' he laughed his lips forming a genuine smile.

"Glad to see you about, how are you liking the place?"

"New York is a different beast than San Jose but it has its charms. Particularly the food scene. I'd say it's even with Chicago I had breakfast in a Japanese place."

He smiled genuinely. It really did feel good to be back with his family again.

"Buy More huh?" She asked, showing a smile that could light up a room, formerly a big box electronics store the company had evolved and expanded into medical science, renewable energy, biochemistry, materials science, engineering and many other areas.

"Meh, he gives great benefits, plus you never run out of things to do. There is always something to fix, something to solve, something to create." He shrugged. "I watched the wedding video the night after I came home. You were beautiful, I mean you are beautiful, I mean you looked great in that white dress,"

She grinned. He can see why his brother fell for her, Lara was incredibly loving.

"Thank you. Steve cried the day before. There's no doubt your absence was felt. He doesn't say much but he missed you like crazy. We all did."

"And here I am. Where I belong."

"Why don't you come around the loft at eight? Steve loves cooking, he makes great breakfast in bed."

"He can cook?" Liam raised an eyebrow in surprise. His big brother was a great athlete but he wasn't known for his culinary skills.

"I gave him a few lessons," Lara said with a knowing wink.

Liam didn't need to turn around to know they were being followed. He spotted the navy van with blacked out windows a block away. They were going to be kidnapped, that much he deduced. He was in full control of the situation.

"We'll talk tonight, I got work to do." she smiled.

"Yeah, me too," he replied before he felt the pin prick of a tranquilizer dart on his neck.

''Will, you have a...'' she pointed before a dart hit her neck. The two of them lost consciousness within a few seconds.

* * *

 _Lower East Side_

 _8:35 am_

Steven splashed warm water on his face. When he woke up this morning he knew it would a hectic day. The police headquarters had just imploded, courtesy of that wretched devil Mulcahy. At least twenty officers were dead, the rest were currently on the street trying to put a stop to it. There was no question those officers were out for blood. On top of it all, Mortley was believed to be using some type of vibration machine used for infrastructure work which he had weaponized to be used for evil.

"Bartowski, we have a call. It's Mortley," Captain Briggs said darkly. The most wanted man for the last two decades was phoning them. It was little surprise, as he liked to play games with the law.

"The gall of that bastard," Steven growled, wiping his face with a synthetic paper towel.

Briggs, Maria, and Steven stood and glared phone on speaker. They were all wary about what this man wanted.

"I trust you are all here. Including you, Agent Bartowski?" Mortley said with a morbid chuckle.

"Yeah, I'm here. Do the right thing and turn yourself in before you end up as a corpse," Steven said in no mood to play his games.

"Agent Bartowski, you understand I am not the sort of man to just make it easy. I love games. I am especially good at charades!"

"You killed twenty-five police officer not an hour ago and you killed hundreds of sailors just last year. Why should we waste our time listening to you when you belong in handcuffs and rotting in a prison cell?"

"Because I have placed several of my contraptions, the one those police officers experienced this morning, in several locations around this majestic city." Mortley paused before continuing with the same casual air. "I also have your beautiful wife and your younger brother as my guests, Agent Bartowski."

Steven's breath hitched, Maria gasped audibly and Briggs cursed loudly.

"You son of a bitch, if you..." Maria growled no one messed with her family and got away with it.

"You'll what, Agent?" Mortley teased. "I have all the leverage and you have nothing."

"You always have something up your sleeve don't you Mortley? Of course you do, you're a regular Lex Luthor." Steven exclaimed. If he was going to save his beloved Lara and his little brother he had to be cautious.

"I want you, Agent Bartowski, and Agent Lobo to go to the Robert Kennedy Bridge, where you will see one of my contraptions tucked away safely. You have thirty-five minutes. I suggest you get moving." The line went dead.

"According to witnesses, a woman and a man fitting Lara and your brother's descriptions were taken in Astoria." Briggs heard in his Redtooth earpiece, which replaced the old-school police radios about ten years ago. "Don't worry. We'll find them."

Steven said nothing as he slipped on his NOI issue windbreaker, both he and Maria grabbed the keys to the agency-issued car. When they stepped outside they were, they were pelted with a frigid wind, the temperature having dropped ten degrees. A cold and sunny day, just like Mortley liked.

* * *

 _New York City_

 _8:45 am_

Liam awakened from his unconscious state, the grogginess starting to dissipate. He had developed some resistance to the regular-grade darts Mortley's men used, but the same could not be said about Lara, who hung from the same metal beam not four feet from him. He eyed his surroundings. The place looked like an industrial factory, probably shut down in the late 1980s judging from the rust. The place reeked of rusted metal and urine; the stench stung his eyes. Places like this dotted the big cities like reminders of the past. Worst of all, he really could have used his gray trench coat, given it was absolutely freezing. It was 24 degrees Fahrenheit last he checked.

"Lara!" he exclaimed, trying to rouse the Latina beauty from her unconscious state. Both of them were chained to the pipe, but the renaissance man concluded he had gotten out of worse situations.

"Autumn? Qiu?" Liam heard static from his earpiece. He was afraid of that; they were using some kind of interference to prevent communication.

The rusted metallic door slid open and two vicious-looking men entered the old room. The tattoos on their necks read like resumes. One was former Spetsnaz and the other was an ex-special forces commando from India.

"Which one of you is Curly and which one is Moe?" Liam demanded to know.

"No need to concern yourself with who they are, William."

A familiar foul voice perked his ears. Liam's sapphire colored eyes flared with white hot anger. Daniel Shaw walked from in between the two hulking forms. His sadistic smirking grin irritated the covert operative to no end. He looked horrible, the slimy bastard had stark white hair in contrast to the head of raven black hair he once had. Liam smiled inwardly; all the hardship Shaw had been through since he had been thrown in federal prison was apparent.

"Daniel Shaw, god you look horrible, you're definitely the Larry here. You remind me of a wooden log too."

"Don't call me that," Shaw growled with an irrational anger. It was like Sarah's eyes were staring back at the former CIA agent who betrayed his country. It made the traitorous snake hate William even more.

"What's wrong? Truth hurts, doesn't it? You know, Shaw, medicine has advanced greatly in the last few decades. They can even help people walk again, and it's quite inexpensive, too. Although it does have its limits. I mean, it's not like they can grow your sanity back or a set of cajones."

Shaw struck the young man across his face. Liam smirked, given Shaw had many weaknesses and he was going to exploit every one of them again.

"You're going to lose Shaw just like always. I'll beat you just like mom and dad beat you every single fucking time and unlike them I'll have fun doing it!" William showed up a sadistic grin.

"He said not to kill you, but he didn't say anything about fucking you up." Shaw growled with hatred. The damage the Intersect did to him, given his mind was never designed to handle it, had turned him into a shell of his former self. Shaw was even more unhinged than he was during the early 2010s. The intersect blueprints were all destroyed because it was deemed too dangerous. Although William had heard rumors that a few organizations were developing intersects of their own.

"Where does Mortley find morons like you, huh?" Liam asked, his lips twitching into a smile as he spit crimson red blood on the floor.

Lara groaned as she woke up. "Where the hell am I?" she demanded softly. The drugs still in her system were affecting her ability to speak.

"No need to concern yourself with that, Mrs. Bartowski," Shaw replied, suddenly all business.

Shaw walked up to Lara and gazed up and down at her form. "Mr. Singh, Anatoly, please take Mister Pasteur into the next room and have some fun with him for a bit." Shaw said, referring to Liam by one of his aliases. He gave Lara a leering grin "I'll handle Mrs. Bartowski here."

The two hulking henchmen took the chains from the metal beam, taking the Bartowski roughly by his shoulders. Liam looked between the two men likely outweighed him by a hundred pounds each. The Russian even had a scar on his right hand, Liam guessed he broke it shattering someone's jaw and couldn't be bothered to let the bones heal properly.

"Liam," Lara tried to scream against the effects of the tranquilizer.

"It's going to be okay, Lara," Liam said resolutely. He was going to get them both out of this no matter what it took. He was going to enjoy tearing up Shaw's plan.

Shaw grinned maliciously, staring down at the attorney who glared back at him with defiant eyes. "What is it with Bartowski men and feisty, indomitable women?" Shaw said shaking his head.

"Go fuck yourself, you hideous piece of shit," Lara replied, spitting at his face. She was shivering violently, the cold affecting her even more than Liam.

Shaw backhanded Lara across her pristine face. "My employer wants to know where the data disk is," Shaw demanded.

"Floating in the East River, like you and the rest of the shit in New York does," she said defiantly.

Shaw smacked her again. Lara spat some blood on the floor. "You hit like a Girl Scout," she growled. Shaw got a bucket of water and splashed the attorney soaking her wet with the bone chilling liquid. Lara shivered violently, she knew from her first aid course that Hypothermia has two main types of causes. It classically occurs from exposure to extreme cold. It may also occur from any condition that decreases heat production or increases heat loss.

"We can do this all day," Shaw said, almost bored of the interrogation. "I'll get the information I need. All that needs to be decided is how many ways I can violate you in the process." Shaw stared at her with those dark brown eyes that were like black holes, taking away every ounce of happiness and joy.

On the second floor, the two behemoths hung the chains from an old pipe. Liam was pounded like a punching bag.

"Hey, Ivan. What's the circumference of a circle?" Liam asked. The Russian looked at his Indian comrade with cold grey eyes.

Liam took his chance. He kicked his legs into the air and wrapped them the Indian's neck, his foot kicking out to send the Russian back in the process. The Indian lost consciousness from the blood to his brain being cut off. Liam pushed up hard, climbing the wall to get the chains from around the pipe. The Russian charged at him, and Liam swung his hands hard to connect the chain with the Russian's face. His head snapped back and he screamed in pain. It gave Liam the chance to remove chains from around his wrists. He swung them around as the Russian got his sight back.

"Let's do dis," the Russian barked with a thick accent. He charged the covert operative. Liam sidestepped him, having the speed advantage over his larger opponent, and snaked the chain at the Russian's legs. He pulled hard and the Russian went flying through the air, landing on the floor with a hard thud. Liam jumped through the air and stomped on the Russian's right hand, eliciting a howl of agony from the former Spetsnaz operative. The Russian tried to turn over and get back up, but Liam swung the chains like a golf club at the Russian's face, knocking him out for good.

Liam dropped the chain and started to charge towards where Shaw was keeping Lara but stopped himself. He realized he couldn't go in there half-cocked because Lara was only familiar with him as Bruce Wayne. Liam looked back at the Spetsnaz operative and relieved the Russian of his black synthetic leather jacket and the balaclava in the inside pocket. He grabbed the chains as well and opened the rusted door. He saw nobody else; clearly Mulcahy thought Shaw and a couple of goons could handle him. He was going to show the Canadian mastermind how wrong he was.

Shaw backhanded Lara again, whose face was covered in bruises. He threw a pitcher of water onto her drenching the other Mrs. Bartowski, the hypothermia about to set in.

"Bartowski men sure love the fiery ones. Mary Bartowski she was feared in the Cold War and your husband's mother well she was a stubborn bitch, too. She took everything I had away from me, she took my Eve! My life!" Shaw said with considerable venom.

"Did she take your balls, too, you coward?" Lara scoffed. "Oh, no. She couldn't have. That would mean you actually had them once."

Shaw pulled out a long knife with a serrated edge and put it to Lara's throat. Suddenly he was pulled away by a chain around his throat. The chain tightened to the point of choking him. The traitorous bastard struggled in vain.

"Like the Borg say, resistance is futile," a gravelly voice whispered in Shaw's ear. In a few seconds Shaw stopped thrashing and gave in to the darkness. William gave him a swift kick to the ribs for good measure.

Lara coughed from the pain, and her head throbbed from the bruising around her swollen left eye. Liam stared at the motionless body of Shaw in hatred for a moment before turning to Lara.

"I've come to get you out of here," he said in a robotic voice. Lara opened her eyes to see a shadowy figure with a balaclava over his head. Liam wisely turned on his voice scrambler so Lara couldn't figure out it was him. Liam extracted her from the chains, helping her slip on a large black synthetic leather jacket. Putting her arm around his broad shoulders and a gentle but steady hand on her waist, he helped her walk out of the run-down warehouse, the two guards at the entrance knocked out cold.

"Who are you?" she asked, still weary from the tranquilizer.

"They call me the midnight Owl," he responded.

"Where is William, my brother-in-law?" she asked in a panic.

"He's safe. Do not worry about him." He gently sat her down on a block of concrete outside the building as the sounds of sirens filled the frigid air. Liam had taken the liberty of calling the authorities before freeing Lara.

"You'll be okay now." His lips formed into a smile. Lara turned and saw the familiar white FBI vehicles with three police cars in tow stopping in the gravel.

"Where should..." Lara turned but saw no one, her guardian angel having vanished. She blinked several times, wondering if she even saw him in the first place.

"Lara!" Captain Briggs called.

"Hey Pete," she replied softly.

"We need the medics here!" he barked at the uniformed officers, one of whom immediately called for the EMS.

"How you feeling?" he asked knowing the answer but trying to diffuse the tense atmosphere.

"Like crap."

"Where's Steve's brother?" asked the senior agent. He had never met the younger brother of his subordinate, only seeing him in pictures on Steve's desk.

"I don't know, that guy…the Owl…he rescued me. Well, I think…" Lara slumped from dizziness..

"It's okay, we're going to get you patched up" Briggs said soothingly as the EMS paramedics grabbed her gently by the arms.

Briggs sighed as he looked at his wrist. The time was nine in the morning, but this day was far from over.

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	5. A Mastermind

**Author's Note:** After trial and error, here is Chapter 5. Thank you as always to PJ Murphy for sticking by me even though I can waver at times. So here it is ladies and gents. Enjoy!

* * *

 _Randall's Island_

 _December 17, 2041_

 _9:07 am EST_

"She wasn't doing to good when we found her."

Stephen listened with a steadily-growing headache as Briggs gave him an update. This morning was turning out to be even more complicated.

"She was sent to Mount Sinai, but that's not all we found," Briggs continued. "We found Daniel Shaw unconscious along with several of his men. They've all been booked, and at least four of them are foreign nationals." Briggs sighed frustrated from the other end of the line. "We found your brother at a nearby clinic. He checked himself in."

"Of course it had to be Daniel fucking Shaw, that piece of rotten tree bark has always gotten away," Steven growled. The lead agent was looking at Maria as he tinkered under the skin of the pod-shaped machine they found under the Harlem Lift Bridge. As a former test pilot for the Air Force, she had a great understanding of what makes machines tick.

"I know. Lara said the Owl had saved her and your brother from Shaw."

"The Midnight Owl?" Steven looked up nervously. A mysterious operative who came to be known during the war that afflicted East Asia nearly ten years ago. His existence had been questioned by authorities from Tokyo to Western Europe because no one knew what he looked like. Seemingly immune to all kinds of facial recognition software, vanishing into the shadows once completing his missions, his exploits had caught the imagination of intelligence agencies throughout the world for the past five years. A whole urban legend surrounding this Detective had been cultivated.

"Got it," she grinned, triumphantly disconnecting a thick black wire from the main computer hard drive. After a second, the machine seemingly sprung back to life and started counting down. She cursed loudly.

"Fuck," Steven spat as he grabbed the fifty pound device and threw it into an opening in the ice covered waters of the East River. Thirty seconds later, the ice for a whole mile shattered as the water short circuited the machine.

It was typical of Mortley to have a fail-safe in all of his devices, he was macabre that way. An only child of good education, he grew up wanting for nothing. He graduated with high honors from the University of Toronto and had a promising career ahead of him until he released a highly lethal toxin, killing the Prime Minister, the visiting Russian President, and three of his aides. Disowned by his parents, he rotted in a Yukon prison until he made his escape, which began his two-decade run as a despicable criminal. If something bad happened in the world that looked like it was organized by a true professional, laying the blame at his feet was a safe bet.

"Hey, what happened?" asked Briggs.

"Another one of his fail-safes," Steven grumbled. "We have to catch this slimeball before this day is over."

"Don't worry, we will. Oh by the way, I talked to Director Quigley. She said no one by the name of Franklin Newton works or has ever worked for MI-5. It didn't surprise her, though. The disguises The Detective uses are pretty foolproof."

"That's what I figured," Steven begrudgingly agreed with his boss.

"Go see her, Steve. She needs you more than we do," Briggs said. "That's an order."

"Thanks, boss," he responded gratefully.

"Don't get all mushy on me," Briggs quipped. "Briggs out."

Maria gently squeezed his shoulder. "Go, Steve. Tell her I'll be by later on."

He nodded with a smile before climbing up to the bridge and walking down a few blocks to catch a cab.

* * *

Standing on the roof of a warehouse in Long Island City was the mastermind behind this morning's calamity, watching this whole show transpire before him. It brought him pleasure to see the authorities running up all over the place like headless chickens.

"Sir, we're ready," his lead commander said in his earpiece.

"Move in," he replied as his jade green eyes looked up in the sky. There was not a cloud in sight. It was a perfect day for a criminal affair.

* * *

Liam groaned as he walked out of the clinic. Not that he was in there for long; it was a fast appointment. They examined him right away, but it was all to sell his cover He had walked away from far worse situations, including a space jump last Christmas. The doctor said he had some strong abdominal muscles, coupled with the fact that half of his clothes were are all custom made bulletproof and shock absorbent. Given his job required jumping from rooftop to rooftop or off them half the time, the specialized attire certainly paid for itself.

"It's a distraction, but I know what he's planning to do," Autumn said into Liam's earpiece. "There's this lab in Lower Manhattan that built a Repulsor engine. It's a main component of the machine. I solved the code. It seems he built some kind of tectonic weapon. The kind that can flood an entire city with a tidal wave or create an earthquake."

"He has modeled himself after Doctor Doom after all," Qiu scoffed.

"Not if I stop him first," Liam grunted. "He's looking to do all that to one particular city. Toronto, Ontario. The newly elected Prime Minister, John E. MacNally? That's his hometown, and he's going to be meeting with Foreign Secretary Beckman and Commerce Secretary Grimes. "The Prime Minister was the prosecutor in Mortley's trial over thirty years ago. He's looking for revenge. Not to mention it's going to be one phenomenal sales pitch if it goes according to plan. Every nut job on the planet will want one of those."

"I remember a young engineer with a promising career ahead of him kills several high profile people with a custom made toxin trying to make a statement. It was headlines all over the continent," Qiu responded darkly.

The ePhone in his pocket vibrated. Liam saw a blocked number and knew who it was.

"Detective, how are you?" chuckled Mortley. "I'm surprised. Who knew you had such an interesting family? Chuck and Sarah they are legendary in the intelligence community. In fact your godfather, that decrepit warhorse Marine, was once sent after me as an old favor. Pity that grunt never could find me. _El Ángel de la Muerte_?" Mortley's cackling laugh felt like sandpaper to Liam's ears. "I can't believe a Costa Gravan colleague of mine spoke of him with such fear…"

"And it was a terrible idea sending that nincompoop Daniel Shaw after me. I dealt with him accordingly," Liam fired back. Although Liam didn't get the same pleasure Mortley clearly did in evading John Casey. The traitor who murdered his grandfather was no formidable opponent; just a pathetic excuse for a man.

"Ever witty, Detective. I've always like that about you. But now it's time for the mutual derision society to cease. I have a puzzle for you to solve. As you know, I'm not the type of man just to let things be bygones, so I have placed one of my vibration machines in a famous New York City neighborhood. You may want to bring a towel with you to find it. Perhaps a couple. So, you can either stop my men from taking the Repulsor engine, or you can go save thousands of lives. Your choice: 35 minutes and the clock is ticking. Best of luck, Detective." Mortley gave a final morbid chuckle before the line went dead.

"Son of a bitch," he hissed. "Mortley's placed another one of those damn machines in a neighborhood somewhere."

"Fuck, that guy is persistent. You have to give him that," Qiu cursed.

"He said I may want to bring a towel with me, perhaps two." Liam leaned against a support structure. "You would think I'd be better at this. Puzzles are supposed to be my thing."

"Seriously?" Autumn said with a raised eyebrow. "You apparently aren't as nerdy as the rest of your family. In what book are people never without their towels?"

Liam stared at her for a moment before the answer kicked in. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. OK, then. The big question was the meaning of life in that, correct?"

"The answer to life, the universe, and everything," Autumn corrected. "42."

"And Mortley said I should bring a couple of towels. So 42 plus 2 is 44." Suddenly Liam's eyes widened. "The ON Building! It's on East 44th Street!"

"The Organization of Nations," Qiu chimed in. "I was old enough to be around when it was still called the United Nations. Mortley must be targeting the peace treaty being signed there today between East Jiang and West Jiang. He sets that thing off, those two start accusing the other of submarining the peace process and he makes a huge profit selling his tectonic weapon to East Jiangese rebels."

Liam needed a mode of transportation and saw the perfect one down the street: a folding car. It was a new type of urban vehicle with two seats that could be wheeled into an apartment and thus save its owner a ton on parking fees. Although its maximum speed was just fifty miles per hour, it would be sufficient to get him there. Taking out a metallic ball from his pocket, he waved around the lock. The ball scanned millions of codes within seconds and found the one to open the car.

"Hop in, sexy," said the sultry computer voice. Liam raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders as he got into the driver's seat.

"The Midtown Tunnel is the closest, so take that," Qiu said quickly.

Hacking into the car's mainframe was like riding a bike for him. He typed in a few commands to override the car's security system, which was designed to only let the rightful owner drive as only the owner is allowed to drive. "Got it," Liam replied as he put the car into drive and took off. He checked his watch, and Autumn had already sent him a layout of the building and its security design.

* * *

 _9:23 am EST_

Doctors, nurses, and patients rushed in and out of Mount Sinai hospital in Astoria. Steven went up four flights of stairs, not waiting for an elevator to get to his dear Lara. Her room was on the fourth floor on the far left. He confronted the doctor as he came out of her room.

"Her condition is stable, but we're going to keep her overnight. The tranquilizer in her system has contributed to the rapid drop in body temperature," Doctor Ranson said as he looked back into the room and stared in concern at his latest patient. "She had several contusions on her abdomen, on her face, but the swelling should go down in a few hours. In my best estimate, she should be fine to go home tomorrow morning."

"Thank you so much, Doc. I sincerely mean it," Steven said as he smiled gratefully at the medical professional whose genuine concern for his patients reminded him of his Aunt Ellie.

"It's my duty, sir," he replied before leaving to tend to other patients.

His eyes widened when he saw his darling wife's bruised face, it made him want to find Daniel Shaw in whatever holding cell he is in and beat him within an inch of his life but that feeling was quickly dashed, he wouldn't lower himself to that human rat's level he wasn't that type of person but sometimes he wished he was.

"Hi baby," she whispered.

"Lara, I..."

"Don't worry I didn't give that pendejo the satisfaction," she assured him, a small smile gracing her injured face. He took her left hand into his and squeezed it affectionately.

"Where's Liam?" she asked about her former co-hostage.

"He's fine. We found him in a clinic, and he's getting checked out. What the hell happened? Briggs told me you said this Detective saved you."

"Yeah, he wore a ski mask. It was weird. He sounded like Vito Corleone mixed with Darth Vader."

"Did he make an offer to be your father that you couldn't refuse?" Lara laughed at that one. "Most people, from spies to your common underworld thug believe he's some sort of urban legend…"

" _We have a developing story to bring you,"_ a television in the room turned to Channel 4 in New York blared out. _"According to unconfirmed reports, the CDC has reportedly closed down City Hall due to a toxin scare."_

Lara exhaled slowly. "Go." she rasped.

He whipped around incredulously. "What?"

"I'll be fine. Go do what you do best: protecting lives and stopping bastards like this," she said as forcefully as she could in her condition.

"Sure," he smiled lightly. He knew better than to argue with her. His Uncle Casey once remarked that she had fire in her veins. Clearly Uncle Casey had a knack for understatement.

He looked down at his watch. It was half past nine o'clock, and he had a feeling this day would get even more perilous. Perhaps this Detective is somewhere behind the scenes working in parallel, trying to save lives himself.

Steven could use all the help he could get.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**


	6. Interlude I

_Note: This is a precursor, a test chapter for an eventual prequel which I might write after this story. As always thanks PJ Murphy for being awesome and on with the show! Thank you kindly!_

* * *

 _"A boy has the right to dream. There are endless possibilities stretched out before him. What awaits him down the path he will then have to choose. The boy doesn't always know. At some point, the boy then becomes an adult and learns what he was able to become. Joy and sadness forever will accompany this. He is confronted with a choice. When this happens, does he bid his past farewell in his heart? Once a boy becomes an adult, he can no longer go back to being a boy. The boy is now a man. Only one thing can be said: "A boy has the right to dream, for those endless possibilities are stretched out before him". We must remember... all men were once boys"_

* * *

 _September 1, 2032_

 _Hillyheim, Wisconsin  
_

 _9:14 pm_

It was mid-afternoon in the sleepy town where the Bartowski family…and of course the extended Grimes clan…made their home. An early morning fog disappating.

William "Liam" Bartowski struggled to lift himself up against the salmon ladder, an extra challenging pull-up variation, with a little kipping and plyometrics thrown in. It was part of his older brother's workout regimen; the young man was a consummate athlete much like their mother. But for the lanky nerd who had inherited his most of his features from his father, including his metabolism and certain personality traits, he liked to exercise by jogging and riding his bike to school and around town. Steven's workout routine was much harder than it looked.

"Careful there, champ. You're going to hurt yourself," Chuck said with a smile.

"Steve makes this look so easy," Liam grumbled, petulantly landing on his feet.

"Maybe, but how do you hope to improve if you don't push yourself?"

The workout area was just to the left of the kitchen, something Sarah set up to train in, even though she wasn't a spy anymore. Still, she always wanted to stay in great shape. The workout room was nothing flashy, just a few dumbbells of varying weights, a floor mat, a speed bag, a heavy bag, a sparring dummy for practicing kicks, and of course the salmon ladder bolted to the ceiling, which Steve favored.

"Got everything ready?" Chuck asked his son. The day had finally arrived. The last of their three children was heading off to college. It had caused his beloved wife to break into sobs, even more so this time because the house would then be empty of children. But ultimately she accepted it. Tomorrow they would be driving him to college and sending the last of their brood out into the world.

"Yeah," he mumbled, going over to the dummy and aimlessly stroking the arms. There was trepidation in his blue eyes that were not dissimilar to his mother's.

"I know what's wrong. It's going off to college, right?" Chuck said, knowing what his son was feeling. When he left for Stanford, he felt the same thing when he had to leave Ellie. He had gotten accepted into UCLA as well but ultimately chose Stanford. He also had originally planned to be semi-retired by thirty, but as the old saying went, when man plans, God laughs.

"I'm scared, Dad. I've lived most of my life here, the few friends I have are here, you guys are here." Anxiety was written all over his baby smooth face. His only friends were his brother, Lara, and his classmate, Jimmy, who was on the low end of the high school hierarchy like him so they hung out in the same social circles of the complexity that defined their adolescence.

"Come here," Chuck motioned as he took a seat at the bench. He patted the space next to him, and Liam took a seat. "Your mother and I didn't have the most conventional childhoods, not like you, your brother, and your cousins. We wanted nothing more than a safe and happy childhood." Chuck smiled. "Your grandpa Jack and your mother traveled all over the country under different names. And when he was arrested, she felt scared and lost. Your Aunt Ellie and I only had each other for many years…"

"I remember the stories, Dad. Grandpa Steven and Grandma Mary didn't want to leave you but they made a promise to an old friend. And Grannie Emma's parents thought Granddad Jack was a good for nothing scoundrel who didn't take life seriously. But Grannie Emma, being the romantic at heart believed she could reform the lovable rogue with no past that he was...and she did like thirty plus years later."

Chuck chuckled softly. "True, but what I'm getting at is that we all got through that and became great successes and so will you, no matter what. You're a Bartowski. Being a survivor is in your blood."

"I'm also a Burton, although Steve got more from mom's side of the family than I did." Liam gave a shrug and smiled. He put his arm around his father. "Thanks, Dad. You sure know how to make a dude feel better."

"Anytime my boy, anytime," Chuck said as he hugged his son. "You're going to do great things William. I know it."

* * *

 _August 11, 2033_

 _Somewhere in the South China Sea_

 _1:52 am_

Two blue eyes snapped open, and a pair of lungs coughed out the air as the warm ocean breeze swept through the beach. William groaned as he sat up and looked around, the fog in his head slowly dissipating. The crescent moon hung in the dark sky as the waves slowly crashed ashore. It was quiet on the beach, the only sounds coming from fauna on this island. He noticed he was lying on a large piece of metal from the aircraft that took him and the other interns to and from Singapore. It started to come back to him. The plane had crashed. There was some sort of explosion. And he ended up…here. But where?

Climbing to his feet, he held his hand to his side, and winced at what must have been broken ribs. He groaned as he assessed all of his injuries, just like he was taught to back in high school. Phys. Ed. was a bit different in secondary education these days; it went beyond knowing how to do a good push-up. Aside from the knock that rendered him unconscious, the four broken ribs and an eight inch bleeding gash on his right side, he was otherwise uninjured.

"HELLO!" he bellowed into the night as he looked around the beach hoping someone would hear him. But all he got in return was sound of fauna in the jungle he would have thought someone would be living on an island in this day and age. He knew he needed to stay calm and think with a clear head.

The shaggy haired boy walked tentatively towards the jungle. He knew he had to start a fire and wait for daylight as his waterproof watch told him it was almost two in the morning. Shrugging off the soaked white T-shirt, he found a clearing between the trees where he could make a fire. The trouble wasn't finding some wood to start a fire, it was getting it going. Friction-based fire making was not for the faint of heart. It was probably the most difficult of all the non-match based methods. There were different techniques available to make a fire with friction, but the most important aspect was the type of wood used for the fire board and spindle. The spindle was the stick to be used in order to create the friction between it and the fire board. If enough friction was created between the spindle and the fire board, it would create an ember that could be used to create a fire. Cottonwood, juniper, aspen, willow, cedar, cypress, and walnut made the best fire board and spindle sets.

The hand drill method was the most primitive and the most difficult to do. All that was needed was wood, tireless hands, and some gritty determination. Luckily for Liam, he had his trusty Swiss Army Knife in the pocket of his khaki. As he mentally thanked his Uncle Casey for drilling it into his head to be prepared for anything, he got to work sharping a wooden stick. He then rolled on the fire board. After a grueling ten minutes, an ember was created. Throwing some twigs to create a bigger flame, he gently blew on it. The fire was alive, and he readied a log to burn.

Sitting back against a tree, he sighed in pain as he got out an iodine packet from his pocket. Tearing off the tip, he poured it over his gash. He screamed out in pain from the effects of the iodine doing its job in cleaning and sterilizing the wound, but Liam wouldn't complain. The stinging pain was worth it, as an infection would be much worse.

"Fuck," he groaned, throwing his head back against the tree bark. The stinging pain eventually subsided. He sighed as he looked up at the crescent moon staring down at him.

 _Mom, Dad, anyone, please come get me._

With that thought, Liam closed his eyes and drifted into an uneasy slumber hours before the dawn.

Sunlight streamed down the canopy. The temperature was on its way to a humid ninety degrees. Liam awoke, the fire having burned itself out. The pain was still in his side. He heard the signs of a plane and was instantly awake. Climbing to his feet, he ran as best as he could while holding his side.

"Hey, down here!" he screamed as an old WWII plane flew overhead. He hoped whoever was flying the century-old plane saw him but the plane disappeared as it flew into the horizon.

"Dammit!" Liam cursed loudly.

He walked around the jungle looking for any signs of civilization. The grumbling in his stomach was his body's way of saying he needed to find some food. He saw some deer, and his mind thought he could set a trap. His Uncle Casey taught him, of course. Although he recalled shutting his eyes when his uncle skinned the cute rabbit they caught that one summer.

Liam saw a freighter not far from the beach, and he bolted in that direction, waving his arms so whoever owned the boat would see him. He could see it now by tonight he would be back home safe and sound.

"Over here!" he yelled when he felt a pin prick on his neck. He gasped and pulled the dart from his neck.

"What the hell?" he mumbled, falling on the sand. Before losing consciousness, he saw three heavily camouflaged people running towards him.

The first thing Liam saw when he regained consciousness was a dimly burning bulb installed in the ceiling. He looked around; the room stunk of death. Fear began to grip the boy as he heard far off screams of agony, as if someone was getting tortured.

"You awake?" asked a bodiless voice.

"Who's there?"

"Don't be concerned about who I am. Be concerned about where we are," the voice replied.

"Where are we?" Liam demanded.

"Hell."

The screams stopped and an eerie silence followed.

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	7. Manhattan Rumble

**Author's Note:** As always thank you PJ Murphy...for...you know what I think I'm going to save it for the last chapter. Concentrate on the story at hand! Thanks and of course enjoy!

* * *

 _East 44th Street near ON Plaza_

 _December 17, 2041_

 _9:37 am_

The Organization of Nations Building sat in the same place as it had for the last ninety-two years since its construction, back to when it was called the United Nations. Diplomats, ambassadors, and politicians from over two hundred countries were being ushered in and out of the complex. Security watched vigilantly for any sign of trouble in this extra-territorial ground where nations met. Today was the day West Jiang and its brother East Jiang would sign a peace treaty after decades of conflict with too many lives lost over their petty differences.

Mortley hired former soldiers, anyone with little to no morals, who would carry out his nefarious plans. A half dozen of his men set the pod-like machine in an old wing of the building, an area dark and industrial with exposed circuitry and pipes on the walls. They were posing as workers who were upgrading the antiquated infrastructure to modern standards.

"Hurry, I don't want to be here when zat machine is set off," barked Sylvan Moreau in his heavy accent. The soldier, Mortley's second-in-command and a former Colonel in the French Army, was an intimidating figure in his late forties with cold hazel eyes and a constant scowl on his face. His boss once remarked he should lighten up and enjoy life.

Guarding the hallway, a former soldier with the Zamibian army looked around warily when he was pulled into a dark hallway with a startled gasp. His colleagues turned and readied their silencers, as they didn't want to raise any alarms.

" _Merde_ , he's here," cursed the soldier renowned for his marksman skills. The tall, blue eyed young man who had been the bane of his existence for the last five years.

A metallic ball rolled across the floor, unleashing a cloud of thick black smoke. The henchmen cursed as it was becoming near impossible to see more than a foot from their own faces.

"Stay alert," shouted one of them, readying his weapon.

"Don't do anything, he's going to..." exclaimed Moreau, seeing nothing but darkness. The sound of muffled firing, shouts and landing of punches and kicks was all that he could hear. As soon as the smoke dissipated, all the hired guns were strewn around the floor like bits of rubbish. Liam stood victorious and leveled his gun.

"You son of a whore," spat Moreau.

Liam pistol-whipped him. "Don't disrespect someone's mom like that. It's bad manners. And may I suggest you crawl back to your boss before I decide to put some effort into hurting you? Please say no."

"This isn't over, garçon!" the soldier hissed before making his escape through the north hallway. His boss would hang him by his balls if he didn't concentrate on the mission at hand. The Detective was always in their way, and he was starting to get the feeling he may never gain the upper hand against the younger operative.

"I hate that guy," Qiu seethed in his ear.

"Hope he hasn't forgotten the hurt I put on him," Autumn added.

Liam ignored their commentary, although he didn't disagree with their opinions. He cracked open the machine and rewired the circuitry with expert hands. The machine was reprogrammed into a zero-energy mode while he studied Mortley's nefarious designs.

"And that's that. Alert the security to this latest breach and that they'll find six people in the old wing being renovated." Liam assessed the damage while he clipped on an ID identifying him as a member of the Chilean diplomatic mission. "Something else requires my attention."

"Mortley's mates are going under City Hall tunnels built during the Civil War used by the Patriots," Autumn said as she sent a blueprint to his watch.

"You mean the Revolutionary War?"

"No, the Civil War," Autumn responded. Liam rolled his eyes at Autumn's complete lack of knowledge regarding American history. But their usual 'I'm right and you're wrong' debate would have to wait until later since he needed to get to Lower Manhattan.

The City Hall Loop was the original southern terminal station on the very first line of the New York City Subway. Built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, they named it the Manhattan Main Line and it became part of the IRT's Lexington Avenue Line. Opened on October 27, 1904, that station underneath the public area in front of City Hall was designed to be the showpiece of the new subway.

"My guess is they're heading to the ghost subway station, which leads to the lab some six blocks away. Much quieter, but they are certainly creating a ruckus."

As Liam expertly slipped past security, he caught the delegation from East Jiang, all formal and rigid. A dozen police officers rushed past him up the stairs responding to a security breach. Tradition was very essential to their culture. The split with West Jiang occurred over a century and a half ago and spanned two wars that were about controlling resources and different ideologies. The mostly Mandarin-speaking people were hoping to finally find peace today, but Liam knew better than that.

"I'm very skeptical this peace treaty is being signed. Two wars and five million dead?" Liam said grimly.

"Peace is never an easy thing. So much bloodshed. Remember all that we saw?" Qiu replied.

"Every single day." A breeze of cold air hit his face as he looked around for a way underground, the city had so many entrances into its underbelly. He knew of several himself and headed to the nearest one. The Bartowskis like many immigrants in the late 19th century entered through Ellis Island. His great-great-great-grandfather Stefano Bartovski (although he was sure there were a few more 'greats' in there) was barely twenty when he fled his homeland in the Swiss Confederation in 1892, a man with many secrets that he took to the grave. It wasn't lost on Liam he was now going through that same city with a cache of secrets he would have to take to his own grave.

* * *

 _Lower Manhattan_

 _December 17, 2041_

 _9:51 am_

FBI agents, police officers, and the CDC stood in front of City Hall. The staff had been evacuated while the mayor was in Staten Island being briefed on the situation. The toxin was nothing more than a custom made concoction of polypeptides, proteins and enzymes. Breakfast time wasn't even finished yet and they had enough headaches to last the rest of the day.

"There's a hostage situation at Stark Labs right now; it seems they used the old subway tunnels to break in," Hennie said in Stephen's ear. Henrietta 'Hennie' Donnelly was an analyst working for the FBI fresh out of college with an expertise in computer engineering. She happened to attend his little brother's alma matter, although unlike him, she was able to graduate without having her life turned upside down.

"We're going under." Stephen looked at Maria who nodded, more than up for kicking ass and taking down the bad guys. Both agents donned their bulletproof vests, strong enough to take several hits from an old .50 caliber rifle, and holstered their agency-issued Smith & Wesson. Pity phasers are still a few decades away, his brother once joked.

"I'll walk you guys through," Hennie said enthusiastically.

"Hennie, I got a brother he's single...I think. I've got to ask him," Stephen said with a cheeky grin on his face as he prepared to go in.

"Oh really?" she said with a giggle.

"He's really tall, got the bluest eyes you've ever seen. Actually, he's a lot like you: Smart, nerdy and his elevators don't stop on all the floors, either.

"Let's go, wise ass," Maria said, giving Stephen a smack upside his head.

The two agents and four carbon fiber-armored tactical agents armed with stun grenades and modified silent guns moved forward, all of them checking their comms with Hennie first. They entered through the front door. City Hall was completely empty as the staff patiently awaited the all-clear.

"We have to be ready for anything," Stephen stressed as they went down a staircase. They spotted an entrance to the subway tunnel.

"Don't worry about me, Bartowski. I've been doing this since before your momma was still tucking you into bed," said a grinning DeGrant, a veteran FBI agent. His two subordinates laughed.

The team went down the rabbit hole hoping and praying they would make it out safe and sound. They walked into the old subway station.

"Something is wrong," Stephen said in an unusually serious tone. He spotted movement in the mostly dark tunnel.

"Guys, be careful," Hennie said over their comms. "I'm detecting multiple assailants."

"Keep 'em peeled, boys," whispered DeGrant. He then turned swiftly and fired at a hidden assailant, who cried out in pain.

"Take cover!"

The agents took cover behind a subway car from the 1970's, complete with graffiti from the era, as they shot back.

"Go, Bartowski. We'll take care of these assholes," shouted DeGrant urgently.

"You sure?" Stephen wasn't one to leave his comrades hanging, especially in the middle of a firefight.

"Go!"

He looked towards Maria, who reluctantly agreed, and the two ran deeper into the tunnel per Hennie's directions.

"Go left," Hennie said. "Then take another left, and you'll…"

The line went silent. "Hennie?" Stephen asked fearfully.

"Shit, they've cut us off from base," Maria cursed.

The two agents took another left when they felt they were not alone, as if they were being watched by something in the shadows. The flashlight built into Maria's service weapon illuminated their path. Maria was less formal than her sister, priding herself on being hearty, but as a child she was deathly afraid of the dark. She even slept in her older sister's bed on many nights.

"What the hell?" she growled as she saw a shrouded figure. She tried to fire at it, but it became a blur. Before she could react, the blur knocked her weapon out of her hands. She spun to face it, but she felt herself knocked to the ground. Not only was she shocked from the figure, she was dumbfounded at how gently she hit the ground. Whoever or whatever this was clearly tried to avoid harming her.

"Shit!" Stephen shot at the mysterious assailant but the bullets bounced off whatever material he was wearing. He threw his weapon on the gravel before charging the individual. The agent threw a punch at the figure cloaked in dark blue. The figure blocked that punch and the five Stephen threw after that. Maria again rushed at the figure and again got a gentle trip to the ground for her efforts. Stephen leaped onto the back of the figure, only to be pitched forward and landed on his behind in much the same way Maria just did.

"Easy there, Han Solo. And before you go all macho on me, I have two words for you: self-defense."

Stephen and Maria stared at the figure, the voice sounding strangely like a mix between Vito Corleone and Darth Vader. Stephen didn't know whether to get out a light saber or make the figure an offer he couldn't refuse.

"They trained you well, Stephen. And you, Maria, are as feisty as ever."

"It's you." Stephen realized it was the Midnight Owl, the urban legend which had captivated the imagination of spies, law enforcement, and scumbags for the last five years. So he was real. He certainly owed him for saving his beloved wife and his little brother from the clutches of that bastard Daniel Shaw.

"Yes, it's me. The Midnight Owl…or the Alchemist or the Blacksmith or whatever it is they call me," said the Owl sarcastically. Stephen and Maria checked him his suit looked like it was inspired by military battle armor but the material looked differently possibly some lightweight but powerful material. He grinned behind his custom made mask with built-in night vision. Admittedly, having fun at his brother's expense was one of the little perks of this day.

He extended a gloved hand. "Come with me if you want to live."

Stephen rolled his eyes as he took the proffered hand and stood up. "Nice suit. I thought ninjas wore black."

"Dark blue blends into the shadows much better. And now that we've gotten acquainted, the lab is a block from here. We have no time to waste."

"We're the law enforcement here. We call the shots," Maria spat as she dusted herself off and picked up her service weapon from the gravel. "Walk ahead. I don't trust you."

"As you wish," The Detective replied, earning another derisive snort from Stephen. Clearly this person was a classic movie buff. But the Midnight Owl did as she demanded. Maria threw a disapproving look at Stephen for being so chummy with this vigilante, but her partner could tell this mysterious operative was their ally and not their enemy.

The three walked silently. Maria was understandably suspicious of the mysterious operative in front of her, but she was even more curious as to whom he really worked for. Someone like him surely wasn't working alone; he must have superiors. On the other hand, Stephen knew he could trust the Owl. He understood Maria's apprehension, but had studied the exploits of this agent dating back to the Second Jiangese War. That two year bloody conflict claimed thousands of lives on each side.

"Why do you wear a mask?" asked Maria. "Big tough guy like you?"

"To protect the ones I love," Liam said simply. "If any of my enemies found out who I really am, they would use the people I love against me."

 _Just like they did with her,_ Stephen thought to himself.

"They don't know, do they?" guessed Stephen. The agent had absolutely no idea his younger brother was underneath that mask. The same brother he used to ride bicycles with around the forest. The same brother who came back to his family not too long ago.

"No, and they never will," he answered darkly before coming upon a perfectly square-shaped opening in the wall that had water pooling on the ground around it. "Looks like we're here. Good, we can get this over with and have enough time for me to catch _The Lion King_ on Broadway."

Liam took a guess at the curious looks on Maria's and Stephen's faces. "A water saw. Nice and quiet, easy to sneak in through the back. The high-pressure hose pushes the water through an opening barely a millimeter wide. It can cut through concrete like butter. It's also the preferred choice when you have to be concerned about igniting whatever may be on the other side of the wall."

"Why do I get the feeling I'm talking to a scientist?" Stephen noted. The Detective turned and smirked behind his mask. Stephen wasn't completely wrong. Liam did major in Agricultural Systems Technology. Although he never finished it, he had certainly put it to good use during the years that followed. All things being equal, his favorite use of his knowledge of chemistry was making his specialized clothing and brewing some very tasty root beer.

"Science is easy," Liam chuckled. "It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognize, out of a number of facts, which are merely incidental and which are vital. Otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated instead of being concentrated."

"Informative," Stephen said, clearly impressed with the vigilante.

The trio walked into the opening into the basement of Stark Laboratories, where science was used every day for the betterment of mankind, new innovations enriching lives. Stephen and Maria had their guns at ready. The concrete that surrounded them blocked their comms, but then whoever was here also couldn't contact their respective base.

They carefully opened the door and found the corridor empty. They saw a half dozen police cars waiting outside for any possible movement.

"This floor is empty. There should be forty employees. All of them must be locked up somewhere," Liam deduced.

From the corner came a brunette woman dressed in a business suit brandishing a silent gun. She had a small scar on her lip, her hands were calloused, and her dark eyes held years of combat.

"Freeze!" exclaimed Stephen and Maria.

The female soldier dropped her weapon and held her hands up with a grimace. Maria approached her when the female soldier spun and landed a kick at Maria, knocking her weapon out of her hand. Maria roared and head-butted the woman to the ground. The soldier wrapped her legs around Maria to trip her. She tried to get on top of Maria, but Maria brought her knee up into the soldier, knocking the wind out of her. The soldier tried to land an elbow on Maria but she was much faster than her opponent. Maria pinned one of her arms back and wrapped her legs around the mercenary's neck.

"Stop fighting!" growled Maria. The merc decided not to heed that advice.

"She's tough," Liam said with a smile. Maria had always been a tough one; she was the captain of her high school wrestling team. She certainly shared a lot of the qualities Lara had, although Lara could clear sailors out of a bar with the salty language she used.

Stephen cocked his gun and stuck it in the face of the woman. "Easy there, G.I. Jane. Unless you want my partner to actually put some effort into her work, you may want to tell us where the hostages are.

"Third floor storage vault." she said through gritted teeth.

Stephen and Maria were surprised to hear a dart whistle through the air and land on the woman's neck. In mere seconds, she fell asleep. They looked towards Liam, who nonchalantly holstered his tranq gun into his jumpsuit.

Without another word the trio moved up two floors, careful not to alert any hostiles to their presence. The third floor was stark white and smelled of disinfectant. The windows set to dark in order to block any view of the inside from the outside. Turning a corner, they spotted a hostile patrolling the area. Before Stephen and Maria could react, Liam had put the man in a sleeper hold, who slid to the ground as he lost consciousness.

"Smooth," Stephen said.

"Thanks."

"Let's go, boys," Maria said, looking around to make sure the coast was clear. Pressing several buttons on a thin keyboard against the wall, the windows cleared up to let sunlight in. Seven hostiles walked by holding a metallic suitcase when they spotted the trio. Silent gunfire erupted as the crew fled up the stairs to the rooftop

"Shit!" snarled Maria as she bolted after them. The other two followed suit, running across the roof to the helicopter pad at the opposite end. Mortley's crew boarded a waiting helicopter. Stephen unsheathed the knife in his vest and threw it with an aim that clearly rivaled that of his legendary mother. The blade went through the shoulder of the crewman carrying the metal suitcase, who dropped it and cried out in pain as the helicopter flew off.

Maria opened the suitcase to find it empty.

"Fuck! It was another one of that scumbag's distractions!" Stephen barked.

He turned towards The Detective…who was nowhere to be found. At the risk of making it sound like one of the many rumors he heard, the man really did vanish into thin air.

He checked his watch. It was half past ten. The day had already been ridiculously long, but Stephen got the feeling it was just getting started.

 **TO BE CONTINUED…**


	8. Interlude II

_Hillyheim, Wisconsin  
_

 _10:32 a.m._

 _That spineless sack of..._

The old style phone growled in her hands, and her blood boiled with rage. Sarah had been on the phone with Lara for the last hour. It had shocked her to the core the events that were transpiring in New York. Here she was, sitting in the top floor of the four story greystone that their electronics company had occupied since 2017. Daniel Shaw had resurfaced in the Big Apple after his escape from a maximum security prison more than six months ago. She kept her two good friends, Smith and Wesson, nearby just in case he decided to show his hideous mug.

Chuck sat across from her listening intently. It infuriated him to no end as well.

"The doctor said I should be ready to go home tomorrow morning. God...I…" Lara sighed in exhaustion, still recovering from her ordeal.

Her precious son and daughter had been hurt by that traitorous bastard, and no one hurt her family and got away with it. Her baby boy was back less than week and had been kidnapped by that...snake, who didn't deserve to be called a man.

"Don't you worry, sweetie. We're going down there," Sarah said, her voice brimming with resolution.

"I couldn't..."

"You're a Bartowski. We take care of those we love. Besides, we have plenty of people here who can pick up the slack," replied Sarah, the fire burning through her veins. "Rest well, sweetheart. We'll be there soon."

The phone was returned to its cradle. She stared at her loving husband for a second and he nodded slowly. She picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"It's me."

* * *

 _Bayonne, New Jersey_

 _10:37 am_

Shaw sat in the back of a U.S. Marshals van with a bruise on his neck, all defeated once again. The old man was chained to the floor after an hour of questioning had provided nothing other than the right to remain silent being put to good use. He was to be taken to an airstrip to be returned to the hole from where he was plucked.

The marshals saw a work crew with their familiar luminous vests working on the road ahead. The van pulled to a stop.

"Hey buddy, what's the deal?" the lead marshal asked the worker who appeared to be the supervisor.

"Just a rough day on the roads," the supervisor said as he turned around. It was Moreau.

Suddenly, a bullet penetrated his partner's skull, splattering bone, blood, and brains on the dashboard.

"Fuck!" the Marshal opened the door, blocking gunfire. He reached for his shotgun. "You son of a bitch!"

A metallic ball rolled next to him. It detonated, unleashing sonic waves that threw the Marshal forty feet, knocking him out cold. Two other members of the "construction crew" opened the rear door and cut Shaw from his chains.

"Thank you, Colonel. What took you guys so long?" Shaw chuckled darkly.

The French operative grabbed Shaw by his throat. "Let's get one straight thing here. Our boss may believe in second chances, but if you fuck this up again, you will retire...permanently," growled the operative.

"Sure," Shaw said in humility, which was enough for the former colonel to release his grip on him.

Police sirens blared in the distance.

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	9. The Spy that came up to the Cold

**Author's Note:** Almost to the finish line thanks to all who've stuck with me through all this. Thank you PJ Murphy for putting up with all this.

* * *

 _Long Island City_

 _10:53 am_

William entered the Sanctum Sanctorum, frustrated but not deterred from his objective as he threw his mask on the floor and took a seat beside Autumn, who was going over reports from the autopsy of the Secretary of Science. The doctor was trying to find anything the medical examiner may have missed, including blood samples retrieved from the pathologist lab nearby where his autopsy had been conducted. They found nothing, but he was determined to find something.

"What are we going to do now?" Autumn asked, frustrated as the man next to her. "Half an hour ago, five cargo planes left LaGuardia heading towards Toronto. He's done it again."

William shook his head. "My first job was an apprenticeship with the local pâtissier, who was briefly the fire chief, but I learned a lot. Mom and Dad urged me to learn some responsibility, so I found myself in seventh grade working three hours every weekday after school until junior year of high school."

"What are you babbling on about?" Autumn asked, looking at him as if he had grown two heads.

"Cooking is one of the ways I relieve stress. It's really therapeutic. It's practically an art; mixing and chopping the ingredients. I've collected fifty recipes so far, and it helped for that mission that I had to cook that Chicken Parmesan for..."

It clicked inside his head. Autumn knew the look on his face; she had seen it countless times before. His thoughts were racing at warp speed devising a plan.

"That cocksucker is going to activate it at his alma matter, the University of Toronto. Oh...I see it now. I have to call my brother, I have to..." Liam said as his heart beat like a jackhammer inside his chest.

He used a program to call the NOI at their third floor bullpen where he imagined they would be sitting down coordinating their next move after this latest event. The program would scramble his voice.

"Who the hell is this?" exclaimed a very frustrated Stephen J. Bartowski. The agent had developed a full blown headache from the sound of the computerized voice.

"Didn't your mommy teach you manners, Agent Bartowski?" said Liam, the program using his voice scrambler. A grin appeared on his bearded face and made it itch. He made a mental note to shave when all this was over.

"How did you...never mind, what do you know?" he asked urgently. "Two of his henchmen squealed when we offered them a sweet deal, provided they rat on their boss. All they knew is that he's is going to do something in Toronto. My boss is talking to the Toronto police chief about it."

"First of all, your computer person will never find me, so tell him to stop trying. Secondly, Mortley has a machine he's going to use to either rock the city with an artificial earthquake. I have a plan that may draw him out. First tell the chief to close down the University of Toronto, then the rest will unravel." He immediately hung up, having given his brother a little clue.

"The Rain Bird all ready?" he asked Qiu, who nodded his answer. The Rain Bird was their plane, a twenty-year old C-17 that doubled as cargo transportation. It was a good cover whenever flying around or through hostile places, and Qiu was particularly impressed at how William got it up and running to tip top shape. "Back to Canada again."

"Oh, boy. Let me pack my tools," Autumn grumbled as she grabbed her jacket.

Qiu handed a piece of paper to his partner, who looked over the whole thing and looked back at Qiu, who nodded. The ePhone in Liam's pocket rang. Pulling it out he saw it was his mother calling him. She knew already and was going to give him an earful, not that he could blame her.

"Hi, Mom. What's up?" he asked apprehensively.

"Your father and I were told what happened to you and Lara and you didn't call..."

"I didn't want to worry you guys…"

"We're your PARENTS. We're allowed to worry about you, especially after you and Lara were taken by that...bastard." Sarah tried to calm herself, as she felt her voice crack at the thought of Daniel Shaw. The man was a stain on the family, having betrayed his country and murdered his grandfather in cold blood.

"You're coming to New York, aren't you?"

"Yes we are," she said calmly but with determination. "Bartowskis stick together no matter what."

"Mom," he chuckled softly. His mother…and of course his father…really shaped him as he grew up. They yelled at him when he misbehaved and gave him advice whenever he was unsure of himself.

"Baby, how is everything?" Sarah understood he became a man too early, but they had just reunited with him after eight long years. She accepted that he had vanished but always had hoped deep inside that he would return.

"Work. My boss is a douchebag but at least he respects his employees," he said with a grin. At the other side of the room, Qiu ostentatiously began scratching his temple with his middle finger.

"You were just kidnapped by a psychopath, William. We..."

"He said I could take a day or two, but I like my job. Most days, anyway. I generally get off at two-thirty, so I can spare an hour or two to give my statement to those guys at the NOI. Maybe even meet Steve's boss."

"Oh yeah Briggs. He reminds me of Casey only more easygoing."

"I'll be there later today. Thank you for calling. Love you…"

"William we...Pedro is coming along, he'd like to see you," Sarah said, referring to Lara and Maria's paternal uncle and their lifelong protector.

"Tell the Doc I will be there to discuss the latest discoveries in medicine." He disconnected with his mother and looked at the phone, giving it a wistful smile. He turned towards Qiu and his smile faded as his focus returned to the mission.

"Can I pilot again?" Liam asked hopefully.

"You're a hell of an agent, Liam, but as a pilot…well, you suck," scoffed Qiu as he handed him a piece of paper. Liam's eyes widened and darkened when Qiu nodded.

Liam held up the piece of paper. "You sure?"

Qiu nodded and picked up his jacket. The flight to Toronto would be only forty minutes long. That was to their advantage, since time was something they didn't have.

* * *

 _Toronto, Ontario, Canada_

 _12:30 pm_

Mortley looked over the Toronto skyline. It was a beautiful city and a far more progressive town than most Canadian cities. It was also the location of his condemnation and soon to be the home of his coming vindication. Merely twenty-one years old, he was an electrical engineer with a promising future when he created that dispersal machine carrying a poison made from the Datura plant. A beautiful flower with a very dangerous secret that managed to kill the Russian president, the prime minister of his home country and the mayor of Toronto, who also happened to be his dear Uncle Ian. Not that he cared, the bastard choosing to romance his mother while his father lie in a bed dying of a very aggressive cancer a decade and a half before a cure was discovered. A rogue element had approached the young Mortley, offering him a huge sum of money if he would help them eliminate these important citizens, and at that time he was full of enough hatred that he happily obliged. As the old saying told us, he killed two birds with one stone.

This place of sanctuary in which he made his base was an abandoned steel mill, a relic of the industrial age from the prior century that had long been replaced with a smaller but cleaner plant. He had no love for the woman who gave life to him, given she had brought pain to his father. Never mind his father had long since disowned him; he still had affection for the man who instilled his value system.

He was lost in his thoughts as the men behind him prepared the Earth Driver, as he affectionately called it.

"We're almost ready, sir," called one of his technicians.

"Of course," he said absentmindedly, waving off his subordinate.

Down in the processing area where Moreau patrolled, he suddenly stopped. He had the feeling he wasn't alone.

"Behind you," whispered a taunting voice.

The colonel turned, seeing the bane of his existence once again looking like the smug son of a whore that he was. It infuriated him to no end. The bastard was like a heat rash: he came back again and again.

"What's the matter, Sylvan? Are we going to fight or not?" casually remarked the Owl, knowing that's exactly what he wanted to do. He even knew the moves he was going to use, being well-versed in Krav Maga.

"I'm so glad you asked, boy," he growled as he tossed his guns on the floor and charged William. Liam sidestepped him and locked through the older man's arm, using a hip toss to send him to the ground. Moreau kicked upward to knock Liam back. Getting up, he charged the younger man again, only this time he changed tactics and sent Liam to the ground with a roundhouse kick. Liam flipped himself back to his feet and delivered a nasty haymaker, dazing Moreau. He wrapped his arm around Moreau's neck and brought his knee up into the man's midsection. Moreau reached up with both fists and boxed Liam's ears, causing him to stumble backwards. The two separated and glared at each other.

"Give up!" Moreau roared.

"You first," William shot back.

"Behind you!" Qiu shouted, prompting Liam to spin and take out the henchman charging him with a back kick. Moreau took the chance at charging Liam once again, but Qiu leaped down from the catwalk above them to land on Moreau. Moreau reached for the gun he threw on the ground earlier, but Qiu's hand shot out and grabbed Moreau's wrist, twisting it until he dropped the gun. Qiu pivoted on his knee and landed an elbow at Moreau's jaw, knocking him out cold.

"You should come out with me more often, Qiu, the way you spar with me sometimes," Liam grinned at his partner.

"I'm a doctor, not a fighter," Qiu retorted, which caused Liam to roll his eyes. Apparently, the Bartowski nerd genes had infiltrated their way into the man.

"Joseph, you disappoint me. Here we are yet again," called out a familiar voice with much of the same sarcasm. Qiu ran up the railing, and Mortley's henchmen trained their guns on him when Mortley motioned for them to hold their fire.

"I knew you would find me sooner or later, Detective. And you, good Doctor," Mortley said matter-of-factly. It gave him a sick pleasure that the young man was as every bit as brilliant as he was.

"Bite me, asshole," Qiu said derisively.

"Sorry about ruining your plans, Mortley," Liam said with a shrug. "Sadly, it wasn't that hard to figure out. For someone who claims to be innovative, your plans seem to be a one-trick pony."

"I'm curious, William. You come to this place without your usual theatrics?" Mortley had the feeling something was amiss but he continued with the schedule. "Do you believe you could save this city? You couldn't save your beloved Imogen. She died right in your arms."

"You insult her memory just by speaking her name," Liam replied, attempting to keep his fury in check. "Thankfully, this is where your day ends."

"Enough games. Initiate the Earth Driver."

The Earth Driver fired a bright beam into the sky. Thousands of miles above the Earth, a triangle of satellites floated in the dark emptiness. The beam entered one satellite, which transferred the energy into the other two satellites. Both of those satellites fired a pulse back to Earth. Only the beams didn't hit their intended target. They converged on the Driver, and the metal behemoth lit up like a Christmas tree.

"What?!" Mortley roared incredulously. His plans had been thwarted yet again by this interloper.

"Yeah, it's good to have a couple of good computer people on your team. We hacked your satellites," Liam grinned maliciously.

It infuriated the Canuck to no end who mentally berated himself for falling for this trap as he watched the Driver fall apart. Mortley was burning red and turned to kill Liam and his partner, only to discover they had vanished.

"Leave, leave now!" he yelled as he became aware of the sirens in the distance that gained in strength. Mortley's men bolted out of the warehouse but didn't get very far. A fleet of fifty police vehicles surrounded the entrances, and they were suddenly face-to-face with almost one hundred constables in full body armor with automatic rifles drawn. A helicopter hovered in the area, the man was truly surrounded after two decades on the lam. It was finally over.

Police superintendent Marcus Heath approached Mortley. He couldn't help but smile at the man whom he handcuffed over thirty years ago when he was a rookie detective.

"We've come full circle, haven't we Mortley?" spat the superintendent. Captain Ahab had found his white whale.

"I'm afraid not," said Mortley…or so they thought as the voice fragmented. The policeman's eyes widened and he grabbed the lifelike face, which came off revealing someone who was not Mortley. The superintendent's face turned as red as a tomato with anger

"Son of a whore!" he growled. It seemed yet again that snake had slipped through their fingers.

* * *

Across the city, Secretary of the Navy O'Halloran entered his room in this low key hotel when he felt the presence of someone else. He took a few steps in to look around, only to hear someone behind the door slam it shut. Turning towards the sound, the Secretary gasped and backed away in fright. He knew who it was; that wretched former Ring agent that worked for that psychotic Canadian engineer on the lam for the last twenty years.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. How are you doing this fine day?" asked Daniel Shaw as he stared contemptuously at the man in charge of the Navy. A neck bruise and a few scrapes adorned his saggy face. The man looked terrible almost twenty years older than he actually was.

"You told me this was going to be simple. I was on the next plane to Philadelphia!"

"It was that bastard spy, the Midnight Owl. He stopped us...again!" Shaw growled angrily, although he could feel the fear radiating off the Secretary. "I'm sure you understand what would happen if you are discovered. Murder in the first degree and aiding a fugitive. I'd pray they'd only send me to Leavenworth if I were you."

"Don't you dare threaten me. I killed Ramirez because he knew too much. He knew I was selling your boss laboratory equipment."

Elmer O'Halloran was a bioengineer by profession. The cabinet had been filled with scientists, architects, two engineers, and two teachers. People who knew how to get things done, it was part of this new Renaissance phenomenon spreading across the planet. He created a protein that caused the aneurysm that took the good Secretary's life a few days back. It had been simple enough to implant.

"Room service!" spoke a high pitched voice, knocking on the door.

"I'm not hungry," barked the Secretary.

"But sir, you ordered eggs and bacon for lunch!"

"I said..."

The door flew open. Officers from the NOI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stormed in with guns drawn. Shaw stared at the man wearing the NOI badge on his belt. It had to be another damn Bartowski. While the man who defeated him this morning was a spitting image of Chuck, only with Sarah's eyes, the man before him was a perfect mix of Charah; his eyes, her nose, his chin, her death glare, and his hair. The irony gods certainly had a macabre sense of humor.

"Stephen Jack Bartowski, we haven't had the pleasure of meeting." Shaw had to chuckle again at the irony. "You have a lovely wife and your brother, Chuck and Sarah have certainly been busy all these years."

Stephen pointed his gun at Shaw's forehead. "And I've heard all about you. That's why you should give up now before you find out I may not be as much of a Bartowski as you think."

Stephen cocked the gun. Shaw took two steps back and put his hands behind his head. "You have your mother's nasty streak. I respect that." Out of sight of Stephen, Shaw slipped his right hand inside the sleeve of his left. "But then you should know not to underestimate my penchant for escape.

He pushed a button on a remote up his left sleeve, and a charge blew out on the carpet directly underneath him. The floor gave way, and Shaw dropped into the room below.

"Shit! Cover all exists, he's getting away!" exclaimed RCMP Chief Inspector Lawson. Steven and Maria jumped through the hole and darted out the hotel room in pursuit of Shaw.

"Secretary…or I should say, EX-Secretary…Elmer O'Halloran, this is for you," Briggs said looking at the Secretary contumely. He held up a warrant signed by an Ontario judge for permission to bug the hotel room they were in. "What I want to know is why?"

"My attorney is going to have a field day with this. Good luck making a confession on foreign soil hold up in an American court," O'Halloran snarled defiantly.

"Well, that would assume the courts are going to be involved in this. Cold-blooded murder of one of the President's closest friends and a popular political figure on both sides of the aisle? Yeah, I'm sure there will be a lot of crying about due process," Briggs replied as he grabbed the Secretary roughly by the arm and dragged him out of the hotel.

Steven and Maria dashed through the lobby, much to the surprise of the guests leaving and entering the hotel. Shaw ran across the avenue dodging cars with the two NOI agents right on his tail. For a man in his early sixties, he was a very fast runner. Just as Shaw crossed Queen Street West, sliding over incoming cars into Trinity Bellwoods Park, Stephen leaped onto his back and tacked him to the pavement, startling the pedestrians in the crosswalk, some of whom barely avoided being knocked over themselves.

"You're done, dirtbag!" Stephen growled in his ear.

"Like hell I am," Shaw retorted as he twisted around and kicked Steven from his back. Maria stood back with her gun drawn, knowing her partner wanted this collar. Shaw threw a desperate roundhouse at Stephen, only to have it blocked by Stephen's arm, who then spun, grabbed the offending arm, and elbowed Shaw in the face four times in a row. He then flipped Shaw back to the pavement. Shaw shot his leg up, attempting to nail Stephen in the chin. Stephen avoided it, grabbed the leg, and twisted it hard, causing Shaw to scream in pain as he felt his knee become dislocated. Shaw flailed with his arms, but it wasn't going to work against the younger, faster Bartowski. Stephen and Maria turned Shaw on his back and bound his wrists with zip ties. Each of them took one of Shaw's arms and dragged him to his feet. Shaw hopped on his good leg, still unable to believe he had been captured.

"You're going back to hole where you plucked from, you son of a bitch," Stephen spat.

"You sound so much like your brother, it's scary. Pity you'll never have the balls to go the lengths he did!" Shaw cackled maniacally.

"Shut the fuck up!" Maria growled as she nailed Shaw in the back of the head. An RCMP unit pulled up to the pair. Maria opened up the back door of the car, and Stephen shoved Shaw inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

As they drove down the highway, news of Shaw's capture was already making local news. William watched on a monitor at Toronto's City Hall as the RCMP and the NOI helped take down the culprit in the assassination of Science Secretary Johnny Ramirez.

"And I thought we had a big day," William chuckled. "Nicely done, big brother."

"Amen," Qiu agreed, who was sitting across the table from Liam. A loud rumbling from Qiu's stomach made both of them sit up in surprise. "How about some lunch?"

"Sounds good," replied Autumn, a grin on her face from a job well done. "Think the rest of the family would be up for it?"

"I'm sure they'd take that over filling out all that paperwork," Liam replied with a smile.

Across the province, the news was breaking right then, although nobody was really upset a Jeffster 30th Anniversary infomercial was being interrupted. Secretary O'Halloran would be extradited later today to face a first degree murder charge, conspiracy, betraying his oath and theft. Being a man in his early seventies meant whatever sentence was given meant that his jail cell would become his tomb.

"Your brother and the FBI did well. We all did well," Qiu said

"Steve is a badass dude, he's a graduate of the Naval Academy that's pretty badass also," William said proudly. "Lara and he went to school near each other they sneaked around. I got his C minus in Math up to a B. I told him, 'Steve, you speak four languages. Math is a language too, so if you can take the time to learn Cantonese then you can learn the language of the universe.' He's gotten more fluent in it, thankfully. We had the same teacher who noted my talent in geometry."

"You and your family are really something."

"You have no idea," William responded. He then slowly exhaled. "Mortley is still out there. I have to admit, that imposter was good."

"He's going to resurface eventually. Don't worry, we'll catch him. In the meantime, I know this Mexican place near here. Great tacos and the _cochinita pibil_ is awesome."

"Sounds good," William replied as he called his brother. It bothered him that he couldn't reveal who he actually was, but that was his life now.

"Hello, Agent Bartowski," Liam said. "Congratulations on hunting down Daniel Shaw. I'm emailing you a little piece of information I'm certain you'd like to see on top of the evidence you've already gathered." Liam sent his brother a copy of the report any forensic specialist would confirm this report in a follow up study.

"How did you...never mind, how do I reach you?" Stephen asked.

"Your boss and partner don't exactly like me, so it wouldn't look good to have me on speed dial. I'll contact you, Agent Bartowski."

"You are one mysterious guy, you know that?"

"Just like my sensei taught me. Goodbye!" William hung up.

* * *

 _Lower Manhattan  
_

 _3:36 pm_

William looked around the third floor of the FBI building. Even though he was here…and nobody wiser of who he really was…he was also surprised at how unembellished it was. Maria took a seat in front of him, having changed out of her gear, her dark hair tied into a bun. She was ready to take his statement on the events of the morning. The day's calamities were thankfully over; all of the devices had been found across the city and disarmed. The news of the Secretary's involvement in the whole affair was all over the news, the media was on the story like sharks going into a feeding frenzy. The President was rumored to have used some very salty language in an emergency cabinet meeting. It had stunned Maria completely when William stepped into the bullpen, the lanky boy...he wasn't a boy anymore. It looked like he was seriously lifting weights. Maybe he could keep up with her this time around.

"Sorry about that," she said. "This will be over in ten minutes. Full name?"

"You know my full name," he chuckled. She tapped her pen impatiently on the desk. She liked to boss him around when they were just kids. That lanky boy she last saw all those years ago had become a man, but it made her feel relief that he was still that same witty person.

"Okay, it's William Benjamin Bartowski," he said, playing along. "It's long and tacky if you ask me."

"Place of birth?"

"Come on, are we seriously doing this?" He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Chicago, Illinois. Specifically the suburb of Highland Park, but you already know that."

"Date of birth?"

"Gee, I think it's June 17, 2014. You even went to my twelfth birthday party," he reminisced. "You threw a slice of Boston cream cake at my face."

"I like the beard, and you deserved that cake in your face for calling me an unabashed tomboy."

"Which, by the way, you still are and Elsa took a picture of it," he countered, referring to his Uncle Morgan and Aunt Alex's oldest child and only daughter.

In the hallway, Daniel Shaw was being led to an interrogation room by Detective Briggs. Despite being handcuffed, Shaw caught Liam out of the corner of his eye, William locked eyes with him and he winked at Shaw. Shaw broke away from his escort.

"Hey William, where's your crew?"" he shouted as Briggs grabbed him and dragged him down the hall. "Do they know what you really are?! Maybe I'll pay a visit to Elsa next. I'm sure Grandpa Casey would love that! I'll be happy to rob her of her innocence. I hear she's the apple of his eye."

Briggs grabbed the back of Shaw's head and slammed it into the wall. "Hey Shaw, keep hollering where you'll be going next and life in prison will be the least of your problems," Briggs snapped.

* * *

 _Forest Hills, Queens_

 _7:50 pm_

As the sun was setting later that evening, Liam stared at the funeral procession. He watched the coffin being lowered in the ground, and the friends, the few family members and many colleagues paying respects to the good astrophysicist. He once remarked that he wanted to be buried at twilight. The illumination produced by the sun was scattered throughout the lower atmosphere, so you knew the sun was giving the planet its protective light, even if you couldn't see it. He always thought that was the most beautiful part of any day, when the surface of the Earth was neither completely lit nor completely dark.

"You okay?" Qiu asked, glancing at his friend and partner.

"He always wanted to be buried at twilight. I think he would have been happy spending his whole life on a mountaintop next to a big telescope, just staring at the sky. Thank God he decided to put his brains to work to help the rest of us."

William looked towards the east, where he could make out the first few stars visible in the night sky as the different shades of yellow and light blue had faded into dark. Ramirez once contacted him regarding a big project, Red Sunrise. It was a dream he had chased, and William thought it was straight out of a _Star Trek_ novel. But Ramirez was quite serious, and the project had propelled humanity further forward than even Ramirez had dreamed, although his death sadly proved there would still be people out there who would threaten humanity's progress.

"He once told me he nearly crashed his car when the Zeus Planet Finder computer system located that one planet seven light years from here right in the Goldilocks zone with water and plant life orbiting an orange dwarf. Even he couldn't believe it; we were NOT alone in the universe after all. Who knows? Maybe once we get the technology to go there, we'll make some new friends on an alien planet."

"I read some of his work. The guy did not lack for passion," Autumn said. "But you're still too much of a Trekkie. Doctor Who is so much better."

Liam groaned at that but moved on. "He always said, 'a man can do anything if he had the will.' Makes sense, right? Get a lever long enough and you can move the Earth? He believed people are empowered and limitless in their development, that they should embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as much as possible."

"I found myself a little place for the night," Qiu said. "It used to be a blacksmith's workshop during the Revolution. You guys?"

"Not yet, the inn..."

"Same," Autumn added.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to bunk with me but you are one supremely messy guy, Liam," Qiu teased.

"Hey, what you call a mess I call my workspace. There's a logic to it; you're just too lazy to see it. I better get going, I'm already late.

Liam waved goodbye to his cohorts and drove to his destination. It took him a mere fifteen minutes to get to Mount Sinai Hospital, where everyone was waiting for him. As he parked his car in the automated parking garage and walked to the entrance, he stared up at the carving of Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician. It was a beautiful sculpture, which was paid for by a series of generous donors. He happened to be one of the more generous ones on the list, but like so much in his life, it had to be done anonymously.

As soon as he entered Lara's room, butterflies fluttered in his stomach. The man closest to him pulled him into his arms. His parents, his brother, Maria and of course Dr. Pedro were all present. Lara was wide awake in the bed.

"William!" exclaimed Dr. Pedro happily. The good doctor still remembered that lanky boy coming over to play with his nieces and his son. He always thought of him as a considerate lad with a magnificent mind, which was in sharp contrast to his vivacious older brother. Although in fairness, he too had become a responsible man to whom he entrusted his little Lara.

"Hey Doc," he grinned nervously as the internal medicine doctor released him. The Gastroenterologist was more jovial and calm in contrast to his late twin, who had a bit of a temper on him. The lawyer's legendary battles with injustice back in their native land were legendary. "You look great."

"Like they say, fifty-six is the new twenty-six," the doctor replied with a grin.

"Sorry I'm late, but my boss likes to talk a lot. He enjoys hearing himself speak." It was a boldfaced lie, but he figured nobody would be the wiser. "Hospital food any good?" he asked Lara jokingly, the swelling in her eye gone the bruises remained they would heal within the next few days.

"The best," she replied with a grin, her hand wrapped around her husband's. The swelling in her eye had subsided, although it would take a few days for the bruise around it and the others she endured would take a few days to heal. The desk beside her was stacked with a few files she was going over. Liam deduced she would be called to testify against the disgraced former Secretary.

"How was work?" asked his father.

"It was super, I fixed up this lady's clock, an old grandfather clock."

"You work too hard, just like your dad." smiled Sarah.

"Thank you sweetie," Chuck crooned as he kissed his wife.

"Mom, Dad!" Steven mocked, whining like that little boy who used to grimace when his parents showed affection.

"Come here, you!" Lara pulled him into their own kiss.

"Doesn't he look adorable with the beard, Uncle?" Maria teased, pinching William's cheek just like when they were kids much to his annoyance.

Everyone laughed heartily. And for the first time in a long time, William found himself feeling that sense of love that came with a family like his. He laughed right along with them.

* * *

 _Long Island_

 _9:33 pm_

Shaw was led into his cell, the traitor once again defeated by a Bartowski. That family was like an itch that didn't go away, he would get his revenge sooner or later especially that demon William, he could still hear his evil cackle in his mind. His thoughts racing in the broken mind that he had between his shoulders as he limped to his cell.

Shaw was unceremoniously thrown into the jail cell, two FBI agents stationed outside armed to the teeth. Groaning he got this feet.

''Goddamn it!'' he roared.

 _TO BE CONTINUED..._


	10. A Bartowski Christmas

**AN:** _Almost to the finish line, a little reminder most of the things here come from speculative predictions of the future. Be sure to review!_

* * *

 **May 4, 2034**

 **Himalayan Mountains**

 **3:14 pm**

William's eyes snapped open, his heart raging inside his chest it was a dream, it was that woman called Frost who haunted his dreams, it's as if his fracture mind was trying to repair itself. The snow was melting, the flowers were beginning to bloom, it had been a mild winter temperatures didn't get under five below. William and Kepler sparred using the bastons, the boy had improved in many areas he started doing more intense exercises such as running a whole mile every morning, doing fifteen chin ups, forty push-ups followed by a sparring session at noon.

''Tie up that mop of yours, manbuns were so twenty-tens.'' Kepler threw his student a piece of string. William passed a hand threw his long locks of brown hair, it grew jaw length in these last few months.

''What the hell is a manbun?'' William responded tying his hair into a short ponytail.

''Before your time. It's time we ventured to a town roughly two miles west of here. I've never ventured there, one must never draw attention to one self.''

''How do we get there, you have a Klingon warbird around here?'' William snorted humorously. ''We're supposed to make first contact in twenty-nine years!''

''Yes I do actually latest generation transport plane, built by Israel's finest engineers. Prime Minister Ben-David told Defense Minister Goldberg that he would never work in politics again. It's how I got you here,'' Kepler said as a matter of fact. ''But you and I will run there.''

It was a dare, the two men ran down the hill. William gazed in amazement as his sensei moved fluidly through the forest jumping over rocks and fallen logs. He started to mimic his movements inserting some moves of his own running on all fours over three rocks.

Sensei and student arrived on the outskirts seeing the town just down the hill. It was called Kaustubha, a town of roughly eight thousand people three main dialects were spoken Mandarin, Sanskrit and English. The town was founded roughly eight-five years ago after the end of the second World War. Founded by people tired of the turmoil of the past looking to build a better future.

''Here's some money,'' His sensei handed him a hundred English pounds it was the standard currency around these parts.

''This place it reminds me of...'' William blinked it was from the dreams he's been having about a place possibly where he grew up, grassy plains with a house on a hill where he felt safe and protected.

''Your skin is of a tone that you could pass for someone of Southern European or Hispanic extraction. How about William Costa as an alias?''

''Not bad.''

''Try and not get lost.'' quipped his sensei. The boy turned and saw that his master had vanished seemingly into thin air, looking around he didn't see him anywhere. This was a new test, it must have been. A bookstore with a neon sign at the top walking aside he saw all types of books from urban fantasy to science. His sensei had an entire library he spent the little free time he was given reading. He particularly loved the science fiction and high fantasy genres. He picked up a chemistry book opening the first pages, Carbon was the first chapter. It is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. It stirred something within him, something came back to him from his fragmented memories, he liked chemistry, carbon was his favorite element.

''Help!'' cried a shrill voice looking outside, he saw a young thug struggling with an woman over her handbag, he saw two policemen running towards the commotion. Pushing the young lady to the ground, the thug ran for dear life. William growled, looking up he knew what to do, running through an alley he ran up a set of boxes grabbing into the ledge and going up to the roof.

Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, he saw the opening he needed, he was going to go into the alleyway behind the buildings of the restaurant district, a row of diners.

Biff, a small time criminal saw the policemen run at the opposite direction having lost him. Grinning triumphantly, he didn't notice the shadows move a hand gripped by the back of his shirt throwing him against the wall. Cursing in his native Mandarin, the thug got out his stun baton, an antiquated piece of technology just ten years old once used by riot police.

''You'll pay for that, sucker!'' he barked charging at his attacker. William grabbed the thug's arm gripping it throwing him into a trash container. Grabbing the handbag, he walked back to the town square and saw the young woman, she looked like a Westerner speaking to a police officer. She looked to be close to his age, had flowing black hair, olive complexion but her eyes were an emerald shade. She didn't look like a tourist most likely she was doing volunteer work.

''I believe this belongs to you.'' William handed it back to its owner, the young lady smiled rewarding the young man with a set of pearly white teeth, clearly she had a good dental plan thought William.

''Thank you so much,'' she said speaking with an Australian drawl he detected a New South Wales accent. ''Your parents must have raised you well.''

''I saw someone in distress, I did what anyone would have done.'' he responded rubbing the back of his head.

''Brave and humble too. My flight leaves in an hour. Can I least get your name?'' she asked her eyelashes fluttering.

''You may call me William.'' he smiled back.

''Well William, I'm Imogen I hope to see you in another life.'' she winked before walking back to her hotel.

''You did well grasshopper, I gave you an A!'' it was Kepler who stood behind him seemingly materialized out of nowhere.

''What the fuck!'' the child blinked.

''Very good, very good indeed. I will teach you to blend in like I did, those skills will come in handy. The negotiations between East Jiang and West Jiang have failed, last night a whole barracks of East Jiang soldiers was bombed to pieces. War is the horizon, it will be a perfect opportunity to further your training in a more hands on approach.

''What exactly will we do there?'' he asked skeptically, William knew very little of his sensei. He was apparently a mercenary of some sort once upon a time but has since lived alone in a monastery in this part of Asia.

''We're going to put a stop to the war but it won't be easy.''

''I'm ready.''

* * *

 _Grand Central Station_

 _December 24, 2041_

 _11:30 am_

The scours of people piled in and out of the trains at Grand Central Station. It was that time of the year again. Christmas was upon the world. It was a time to be jolly, to be happy, and to be optimistic. For Liam, he had spent several Christmases fighting all sorts of scumbags, stopping evil plots, and saving lives in the process. He didn't have time to be jolly, optimistic and happy. Since the early hours of this morning he had been protecting a man who himself had spent most of his life fighting for the greater good. Jack Band was a former agent who had been retired for the last thirty years…until his past came calling and Liam was there to fend off the sharks from completing their assignment.

"You sure you'll be okay, sir?" Liam asked with concern for the centenarian.

The old man chuckled. "I'm a hundred and eleven years old, kid. I carried a grown man on my shoulder in Korea while bullets were flying over our heads. The only problem I have is high blood pressure. Nothing a few pills can't take care of. Besides, my grandkid is only a twelve-hour bullet train away."

His grandson had been pestering him for the last twenty-five years to go live with him in the middle of nowhere on a farm in Indiana. He sensed his time in this life was almost up at his age it was more than likely. "Fresh air, nothing but cows, goats and sheep. You like goat milk?"

"I like it more than cow milk," Liam replied with a chuckle. The old man reminded him of his spry Grandpa Jack who loved to tell his grandsons about all of his con jobs, something his mother discouraged her father from doing…with no success.

"That's good." He smiled and tipped his silver-embossed cane in Liam's direction. The eagle design in the handle seemed only fitting for the man. "You have a good heart, kid. Thank you for helping out this old fart. Just be sure to keep the ones you love close to you, 'cause pushing them away is..."

The man's mind wandered to a distant time when he was younger and a lot cockier before a train whistle cruelly broke him out of his sentimental musings. "Look at that, my train is here."

The doors on the train opened up and people began to board. "Merry Christmas, kid."

"To you as well old timer," William responded, watching as the centenarian stepped onto his train.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Autumn Catherine Ripley was preparing for her little Christmas escapade. She could have taken the easy, safe way in life, having grown up in a loving home, but she wanted more than that safe little haven. She got to travel the world, although it sometimes involved working for the wrong people. But she always strived to do the most good possible, to help those who truly needed it. Her skills as an engineer and hacker were not wasted, particularly when she met William, in the heart of Kyoto all those years ago, he had saved her. In many ways it had piqued her interest. She tried to steal from him and this man had been after her. Yet in the end, all he did was retrieve what she had stolen. He could have had her arrested or even harmed her, but he did none of those things. It was almost as if he respected what she tried to do. She had to know more about this man.

She observed William with his feet up tracing something on a notepad. She scanned his office, seeing his jacket, one duffel bag packed with clothes and a warmer box to keep the food he had just prepared for tonight. On his chalkboard next to the window were several chemical formulas. Chemistry was never her strong suit, but she knew enough to get by.

"Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, potassium..."

"The chemical composition of the human body," he replied. "Something I drew up there because I was bored. Next to it is the recipe for my special Bartowski cheeseburger. Lettuce, tomato, cilantro, västerbotten cheese, hoisin sauce, and crab meat makes for a tasty combination. And surprisingly good for your cholesterol, too."

"Hey, you all set?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just passing the time," he said absentmindedly as he read _Dance of the Dragons_ by the legendary George R. R. Martin, not even remotely interested in the white fluff raining down outside. It was a pity, too, given the white landscape made for such a spectacular visage. A Christmas movie couldn't paint a more beautiful picture.

"My dad's parents got married sixty-two years ago yesterday. The mild mannered software engineer and the Frost Queen, a Cold War spy. I used to joke that grandma was so tough, she could have taken on a cyborg from the future."

He laughed softly. The mechanical Engineer could feel the sorrow emanating from him. She only saw him cry once, when his special someone died right in his arms.

"It's okay to cry," she assured him putting a hand on his shoulder. He wasn't sure if he could cry, and it scared the hell out of him.

"She died five years ago defending a man from the Lioness. I had just tangled with the same bitch weeks before that. Grandma was hailed a hero by the press but the stress led to a heart attack. Right out of the blue, too. No warning signs or anything."

Autumn watched the expression on his face for a moment. This was clearly a dark part of William's life, and it was one of the little pieces of his past that made her realize there was so much more to him than anything the world knew. "She'd be proud of you."

"Grandma was proud of all of us. She once said to all of us just because you graduate high school or college doesn't mean you stop learning. Doctor Ramirez said the same thing. You learn from the moment you're born until the day you die."

"What's the town like?" Autumn asked curiously, he rarely speaks of his early life but from the few things she's learned it was your typical childhood, two parents, a house, a brother and a multitude of friends and family. Someone so ordinary could through so much like he's had.

"We moved there because it's about an hour and twenty minutes from my aunt's house in Chicago by car ride. There were lots of farms since the half of the founders had been farmers primarily from the Netherlands, a quarter of them had been intellectuals from Oslo and Bergen. And then the rest were skilled craftsmen, some runaway slaves from the South, some Chinese who wanted to get away from the "work" on the Pacific Railroad. Mostly it was made of people who wanted a new life and put their pasts behind them. Lots of fresh air and the winters weren't as bad as you would think for that part of the country. And this one lady a few places down made the BEST Krumkake you've ever tasted." Liam saw Autumn raise an eyebrow. "It's a Norwegian rolled-up cookie, kind of like an Italian pizzelle." Autumn was even more confused. "A waffle cookie."

"Never mind," she finally said in surrender. "Now you're just making me hungry. But it was a beautiful house?"

"It was," William said with a wistful smile. "It was actually a newer place, only about forty years old. The man who built it was an architect who loved Frank Lloyd Wright's work. Unfortunately, his wife two days before it was completed, and he was too devastated to move in. Poor guy just faded away after that. He died of liver failure a few years later. He never recovered from losing her."

"That's sad." Autumn lamented.

William nodded. "That's life. Well, that's death. We're actually the first family to live in that house."

William looked at his watch. He probably should have been getting to the station but he was waiting for that someone. He collected his things and locked his office door behind him. Across from his office was Qiu, who had his little pad out. He punched a few buttons on it, and the video wall changed to college football.

"Pathetic!" Qiu shouted at the TV. William and Autumn walked into the office, all of his paperwork stacked on one side all done.

"Problem, boss?" William asked with a grin.

"The Huskies offense, that's what's wrong! They're getting their asses handed to them by the Jackrabbits! Seriously, you couldn't have picked another school to attend?" Qiu snarled as he took a swig of his Guinness beer. It was bad enough South Dakota State barely qualified for a bowl game, but his Washington team was supposed to be better than this. He certainly had donated enough to his alma mater where they should have done better once they moved up to Division I football. Losing a bet to Liam's alma mater, even a friendly bet, chafed at him like nothing had before.

"I was accepted into a few dozen places. Every Big Ten school, Penn, MIT, CalTech, Vanderbilt, N.D., you name it. I went crazy trying to go through all the brochures, so I threw all the letters in the air, closed my eyes, and picked up the first envelope. And the rest, as they say, is history. Plus, it was only an hour away by train ride."

Liam paused as Qiu growled at the screen while he watched the Huskies get a holding penalty. "I got a call from them yesterday. They're going to give me my degree if I can pass a few tests after New Year's. I'll be in Brookings for three days. And then I'll have my degree, which I've wanted for some time."

William majored in Horticulture with a minor in Organic Agriculture.

"That's great," Autumn said with a smile.

"Chemistry was my favorite class in high school and the one I excelled most at. Although you may find this hard to believe, math was my worst subject. I knew the material but I got bored with it quickly. It's important information, but it's all in your head. With chemistry, the composition, the structure, properties, change of matter, and we could make it happen. Nothing like blowing up a few beakers," he gushed.

"I hated gym, especially dodgeball," Qiu said. "Our teacher was an asshole and always tried to nail you in the head with those things. And he never picked on the popular kids, just the fat kids like I was. Well, at least until I became a teenager, grew into my body and became a total chick magnet."

Qiu gave a cocky grin…which disappeared exactly three seconds later when Washington threw a pick-six. "Fuck!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a one hundred-dollar bill, slapping it into Liam's palm.

Autumn shook her head at Americans and their sports. "Football but with your hands? I prefer Arsenal, thank you."

"Later tonight I'm meeting with a neurosurgeon, a hematologist, and a pathologist to discuss the latest advancements in scalpel technology and medicine," Qiu said. "I understand being passionate about your field but they act like Justin Bieber fan girls."

Both Liam and Autumn gave him a weird look. Qiu shook his head in tired frustration. "Before your time. And aren't you lucky."

"Is that why I see all those old TV programs on your screen late at night?"

"Nothing like a good binge-watching session of _Breaking Bad_ ," Qiu replied.

The Hephaestus Network is quiet for the moment, nothing that needs taking care of." Aside from hiding them, the Network was very versatile using advanced probability like a forecasting system where something major would happen. Sadly, due to the unpredictable nature of things, it could misread certain events.

They heard footsteps and all turned. Two people walked into the office. "Knock knock, we come in peace!"

Stephen J. Bartowski stood in the doorway with his hands behind his head as if he was surrendering. Next to him was his lovely wife, who slapped his arm in annoyance. "Behave yourself, Stephen," the Latina beauty said.

"This is my big brother, Stephen," Liam said in introduction. "Voted Class Clown in high school and Most Likely to Start a World War with a Whoopee Cushion. And that is his wife, Lara. Or as I like to call her, the most patient and masochistic woman on the planet. Guys, these are my friends and colleagues, Edward and Autumn.

"Pleasure to meet you," Lara said as she shook Autumn's hand.

"Likewise," Autumn said. "Liam has told us all about his colorful family."

"Did he tell you about the time he peed his pants in the first grade play about the three little pigs? It wasn't the hair on his chinny chin chin that kept the Big Bad Wolf away," Stephen quipped, prompting another slap across the arm from his wife. Qiu snorted a laugh; he liked this guy already.

"No, but I can tell you that one New Year's he rewired a Kyoto building's lighting so it looked like a middle finger," William countered. "Mayor Nagamura threw him in jail. And who was peeing their pants that night, may I ask?"

They all laughed, especially Qiu. He couldn't help but feeling a tinge of jealousy, not only for the good relationship the two had, but that he never thought of a stunt like that himself.

"Nice to meet you, too," Stephen grinned as he shook Qiu's hand. "So how has my brother fared? Well enough, it seems. I'm glad someone was keeping an eye on him."

"He's an asset to the company. He's my right hand man. Actually, he's the left as well. Autumn's my right ear." That earned a Bronx cheer from Autumn.

"Happy Christmas." Autumn wrapped the rainbow patterned scarf over her neck. She walked out, taking her leave. "It was nice to meet you."

"Merry Christmas, boys and girls," Qiu said as he turned off the football game and grabbed his coat.

"I'll be here in a flash if you need anything," Liam assured him.

"Everything is quiet for the moment, so get out and enjoy yourself for once," Qiu said as he waved the group to the door. "Your family has got your back."

"Let's go, buddy." Stephen grabbed his left arm while Lara grabbed his right.

"It pains me to say this, but relax a bit," Lara said, holding her brother-in-law tightly.

"Now where did I put that Blu Ray player?" Qiu muttered under his breath as the news came on. He meant to record the story on the manned mission to the moon of Callisto, orbiting Jupiter. They were supposed to travel out there using the latest update the Galileo Drive System, cutting the trip to eleven months, less than a third of the standard forty-two months it used to take.

The young Bartowskis arrived at the airport boarding the plane to go home, where Liam would take a second train all the way home. He put his bag in the compartment over his head.

Stephen smiled and put his duffel bag and his wife's in the same compartment. "Home sweet home, here we come. So let's talk."

Liam swallowed nervously. He knew this was coming, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to it.

"Briggs decided to go ice fishing in Canada with his old man. Tough SOB, his father. He was a paramedic in Colorado, worked for the city of Denver for thirty years after fighting in Desert Storm. But I guess he is trying to enjoy retirement now, and Briggs is trying to avoid dropping of a coronary in his fifties. Last year, he went to Namibia and found out he was related to the Aawambo tribe. His mother's grandfather was a councilmember or something." Stephen chuckled. "Now Briggsy's trying to convince me to do one of these "discover my roots" trips. If I didn't know any better, I would think he went home every night, smoked some pot and listened to the Beatles and Grateful Dead all night long. But I told him my family scattered in every last corner of the world, so doing a trip like that would drain my bank account before I met the first ancestor.

"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Liam said with a smile. "You remember that genealogy project we all had to do in sixth grade? I wrote my ancestors were your average Joes. Great-granddad George was a vet in Kansas who died with his arm inside a cow's butt, and his son was a mild mannered software engineer who loved all sorts of computers. Cathy Holmsen called me boring for not coming up with anything better, and I called her stupid.

"For mine, Grandpa Jack gave me a police file. The thing must have been more than a hundred-twenty years old. It was about his grandfather, a professional thief named Lichtenstein who was the bane of Warsaw Police so much he treated that file like a trophy. I heard he was even sighted around Chicago during Prohibition. So I wrote that he was a traveling salesman."

"And who says the past is irrelevant?" Liam said with a chuckle as his eyes glanced up at the holographic screen showing the Callisto mission prepping. "We've become a spacefaring people in just seventy-two years. And an even bigger miracle than that? The Cubs finally won a World Series. Of course, it HAD to be against the Yankees, right?"

They all laughed. Stephen looked over at his brother. "You okay?" Stephen asked.

"Yeah," Liam said with a long exhale. "Everything is fine."

* * *

 _Hillyheim, Wisconsin  
_

 _December 24, 2041_

 _6:52 pm_

Rapid-fire images of fighting, screaming, and dead bodies lying around flooded his mind as the train halted in its destination, waking him up from his uneasy rest. He looked outside and saw the sun had already set for the evening. Freshly-fallen snow covered the trees.

"Hey Liam, wake up. We're here," Stephen said, shaking him out of his nap. William blinked as he saw he was home. It was another one of the recurring nightmares he had. Sometimes he went months without having any until they hit him again, sometimes not letting up for weeks. Checking his watch he slept through the last half-hour of the trip.

"Jeez," he murmured as he looked around and rubbed his eyes. He took out his duffel bag from the compartment above and carefully grabbed the dish he prepared, which was on the open seat next to him.

"You okay? Were you having a bad dream?" asked a concerned Lara. Everyone knew what he went through being lost at sea and were understandably concerned. Chuck and Sarah advised everyone not to pry too much.

"No, it's fine. I tend to get only a few hours of sleep. My job is hectic." _In more ways than one_ , he dared not add.

William stepped out of the bullet train to a very different world. For all the work he did, he had only been to a couple of states: Oregon, Massachusetts, Texas, Vermont, Florida, New Hampshire, Hawaii and California. Each had a different ambiance but none of them could come close to his hometown. The Renaissance man never got the chance to truly re-familiarize himself with his hometown after all these years, where he had mostly good memories. Although going through adolescence all those years ago, it wasn't exactly Bedford Falls.

As his brother and sister-in-law went a different way to the Guerrero house to get ready for later tonight, he took the short fifteen-minute walk to the house. The temps were in the twenties, which was practically the tropics at this time of the year as far as Midwestern people were concerned. Walking through town he saw the old shops, the classic diner, and the bookstore that his parents owned. The smell of fresh baked goods filled his nostrils. He couldn't deny it was making him hungry. _I'd like to make one of these bakeries rich tonight_ , he thought.

He turned onto Main Street, which was covered in green and red holiday decorations. There was plenty of white, freshly-fallen snow that covered the streets; it was truly a white Christmas. At the corner of Main and Wolfgang, he saw the Gothic church where Stephen and Lara were married only nineteen month ago. The Bartowski Electronics headquarters was up ahead, sandwiched between a bakery and their bookstore.

A blond woman slipped on an icy patch on the sidewalk, landing on her butt. Hurrying over, he picked the woman up from her fall.

"You okay?" he asked when he saw her face. A familiar one from a long time ago in a different lifetime when he was a different person. "I don't believe it…"

"Thank you kindly, you..." She gasped when she saw him. It was Liam after all these years. That kid, the low man on the high school totem pole, had vanished eight years ago. Very much below her status as one of the most popular girls in school. And in his place now stood a man who looked nearly unrecognizable.

"Hi...Jane," he said awkwardly. Jane McNulty, the blond girl all the hormonal boys back in school lusted after, was in his arms. Truthfully, he would be lying if he said he didn't have a crush on her back then, but that was a different boy and a different life.

"Liam, you're..." Everyone around town had heard already of Liam's reappearance after all these years. Hillyheim was small enough of a town that everybody knew everything about everyone else.

"I'm back in business," he chuckled. "Actually, I'm just back in town to visit the folks."

"What do you these days?"

"I'm a bit of a jack of all trades. Some fixing, some programming..." he said casually. _Some cloak and dagger, some jumping off of rooftops, the occasional saving of the world every now and again..._ Now he knew what Superman must have felt like when he had to act like Clark Kent.

"How about you?" he asked.

"Also visiting the folks. I manage Demeter Foods. We're based in several cities in this country and the other republics. We sell good grade organic products," she said proudly.

Liam smiled. The woman knew good products when she saw them. It's a chain of grocery stores that sold high quality fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. A little pricey but well worth it.

Liam then noticed the silver band around her finger, and at that moment he was genuinely stunned. From the corner of his eye, he saw a man with honey brown hair, a honey brown beard, and an MIT class ring. It was his good friend, James "Jimmy" Leeghwater, who was in the same high school social circle as him. He remembered how close he was getting to her in senior year. She had been dethroned, severely humbled through no fault of her own. Her father died the summer before her senior year at a much-too-young age of fifty, and she had a hard time coping with it. Her more superficial friends drifted away from her, but Liam knew Jimmy was someone who was built for the long haul, and he knew how to take care of anything.

Clearly Jane was his reward for being a good person. _Holy cow, you son of a gun, I didn't know you had it in you..._

"Honey, I got the...Billy!" Jimmy gasped as he ran and tackled his high school friend. He wrapped his arms around the man's broad torso and all but lifted him in the air. Liam didn't panic; Jimmy was basically a big teddy bear. His spy senses active, Liam could tell from that hug that Jimmy drank hazelnut coffee, used the wrench with his right hand even though he was normally left-handed, and enjoyed Thai food. It seemed Jimmy had not changed that much since high school, though the same could not be said about himself. But an oversized teddy bear knew how to take care of those who held them, so it wasn't hard to see what Jane saw in Jimmy.

"You grew a beard, Jimbo. I had a beard until mom 'convinced' me to shave it off."

"I was so happy to hear you were found. We thought…everyone thought you were dead," he said, finally letting the engineer take a breath.

"I was just talking to your lovely wife. Where are you guys living these days?" he asked curiously. The last time they saw each other, Jim was going to go to college when his mother got sick. He had to drop out to help look after the family business alongside his father. Certainly he understood what Jane had been through. Life had a tendency to throw curveballs like that.

"Chicago for time being. We took my father in after my mom died. He'll be retiring in a couple of years, but we've been running the family business there. It's been good therapy for him. Not to mention, there's no shortage of pipes that need to be fixed in that town."

 _Glad you guys are doing what you wanted to do. This life…it chose me._

"Wonderful seeing you again," Jimmy continued. "In case you didn't know, the ten-year reunion is coming up in June, and almost everyone will there." Jimmy's grin was now ear-to-ear. "I can't wait to see who got bald, who gained a ton of weight, who got married and who made it big..."

"Me too. Merry Christmas guys and a happy new year too," William grinned, saying his goodbyes.

The engineer walked another ten minutes when he came up to Eagle Hill and his old address at 175 Strange Road. The Bartowski homestead was indeed an architectural masterpiece. It was a Prairie School style with tempered steel beams adorned with stained glass, allowing the lighting inside to create different types of ambiance, depending on the time of the year. Red and green were the prominent colors right now as William looked towards the upper floor, remembering exactly where his bedroom was, as well as Stephen's, his parents', and the large study. He smiled at the large Santa, complete with reindeer, which adorned the overhanging eaves in the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home. Downstairs was a workout room, two guest bedrooms, one of which used to be the playroom for his brother and him, and an expansive kitchen with attached dining room. Most of all, he remembered the fireplaces. They were in every bedroom, the dining room, and the library. It was something his parents always wanted in their dream house, both of them fondly remembering them from when they grew up.

Just as William opened the ornate main door and stepped in from the cold, he heard the bubbly voice of his dear Aunt Ellie. He was already feeling the butterflies in his stomach. He could tangle with killers and thieves without breaking a sweat, but family, Ellie in particular, still made him nervous.

The mysterious operative known as the Investigator mustered up all the courage he had within, he snuck upstairs and put his stuff in his room, Once downstairs, the light filling the living and dining rooms created a sharp contrast to the dark entrance hall, making the living and dining rooms seem even more special. He stepped into the kitchen where his aunt stood helping his mother cook, her customary red sweater all snug. His mother was standing over the stove with many pots around the six grate stove. She wasn't even halfway done. Most of the guests weren't here from what he could tell, and his brother and Lara were still at the Guerrero house preparing for later tonight.

William knocked gently on the doorjamb. "Hi," he said nervously.

As soon as she turned, Ellie's eyes went wide. She dropped the spatula she was holding, shot across the kitchen, and wrapped her arms around her nephew's broad torso.

"Oh my God! Liam!" she squealed, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Hey...Aunt Ellie," he smiled nervously. Extracting herself from her nephew she stared up as happy tears rolled down on her cheeks.

"You've grown up," she said with a smile. When she heard her nephew had been found, it had made her emotional to no end. She had known the boy since he was born, holding him in her arms when he was only a few minutes old.

"I hope so. I AM twenty-seven, Aunt Ellie," he replied with a smile on his clean shaven face.

"I..." she didn't know what to say.

"It's fine, Aunt Ellie," he interrupted. He had to admit to be smiling like this at his aunt felt good. "I'm happy to see you as well."

"How are you? Do you feel fine?" She knows all the aspects of amnesia and what came with it, but she knew not to press her nephew about it.

"I have a doctor, Aunt Ellie. He's quite good, but I'll be happy to have him forward my records to you."

"Come on," Sarah said from the kitchen, working on the contents of two different pots at once. "No giving your aunt any grief."

Liam walked up behind her and kissed her cheek. "I'm just kidding, Mom. You know that. Anything I can do here to help?"

"You just sit and relax, honey," his mother replied, motioning to the living room.

"Where's Dad and Uncle Awesome?" Liam opened the refrigerator and took a bottle of flavored water out. "Is Clara coming?"

"Unfortunately, no," Ellie said, clearly downcast about it. "She's busy with Doctors Without Borders. And the boys are with the Woodcombs this Christmas."

Liam nodded in sympathy. Even though Ellie and Devon never pushed any of their three kids towards a career in medicine, Clara decided she wanted to go to med school anyway. It turned out to be a good idea, given she was a more skilled doctor than both of her parents combined. When she found out her parents did a stint with Doctors Without Borders, she decided she had to as well, over her parents' strenuous protests.

"Your father, Morgan and Devon are getting the tree," Sarah added. "We've been so busy with the latest sales we completely forgot to get one." That elicited a laugh from the trio.

"I brought wine," Liam said, as he pulled the bottle out of his duffel bag. Sarah took it from his hand and smiled when she saw the label from Costa Gravas. In the new Democratic administration, the country was flourishing, and wine was one of the country's main exports. "It was a gift from my boss. Someone gave him a dozen cases of the stuff as a thank you, so he gave me a few bottles for the holiday."

What Liam kept to himself was that Qiu got the wine as a thank you for the intel he provided in taking down former Costa Gravan dictator Augusto Rafael Pinochet Castro. After Premier Alejandro Goya died of an apparent heart attack in 2015, Castro gained the confidence of Goya's widow, Hortensia. From there, taking over the country was easy. Hortensia was executed, and Castro converted the government to a brutal dictatorship. Lara and Maria had barely escaped Costa Gravas with their lives thanks to the help of an Army doctor who was in Costa Gravas at the time, who got them in contact with their uncle in Wisconsin and the part William didn't know was that Army doctor was none other than his boss, Qiu. Thanks to Qiu leaking intel that Goya's death was orchestrated by Castro, U.S.-backed rebel troops took down Castro's death squads. Because of William's boss, Costa Gravas was thriving even better than before, and Castro was rotting in a prison cell in California.

"More booze," Sarah said, partly with a smile and partly in frustration as she put the bottle next to two bottles of Irish whiskey, one bottle of white wine, two bottles of red wine and two bottles of eggnog. John Casey was going to love this.

"So Grandma and Grandpa aren't coming?" William talked to his mother last night about his grandparents who were caught in a snowstorm back East. They were visiting Aunt Molly and her youngest. Molly was a reserved person, even more so than Grandma Emma, but she definitely didn't like being called Aunt Molly because she was barely older than they were.

"You know how Grandpa and Grandma are, hopping around the planet like a couple of kids." Sarah shook her head at her parents' antics, but at least they were back together thanks to her father giving up his life as a con artist. "But they'll be here before New Year's. Unfortunately Diana is another case, her obligations with Doctors Without Borders have caused her to miss this year but we're going to skype she's glad you're back."

"Oh! I made a dish to add to the feast you guys are working on." He took out the lahmacun from the pack that kept it warm and fresh through the trip. Often called Turkish Pizza, it was a round piece of dough topped with minced meat…typically beef or lamb…along with chopped onions, tomatoes, and parsley. Liam especially liked it when it was sprinkled with lemon juice. He put the dish on the table before going into the workout room.

Thirty minutes later, a whole group came through the doors, including Stephen and Lara, Chuck, and Devon. Although given how much work he did as Chief of Staff at John H. Stroger Hospital in Chicago, Stephen and Lara thought he deserved a promotion to Captain Awesome to General.

"We drove around for like half an hour looking for a place that wasn't all out," whined Morgan, still sporting his signature beard, although it was now peppered with a lot of gray; he started graying in his late thirties.

Devon held up the tree, which made the one Charlie Brown had look spectacular by comparison. "All that driving around in the cold for this. So not awesome."

"Oh, please," Chuck needled him. "You drive the Kennedy Expressway every day to get to work; nothing on our roads should phase you. Besides, it's the thought that counts."

"Dad, you said you knew where to get some. It turns out that was empty, too," grumbled Martin Seamus "Marty" Grimes. Marty could set the Guinness World Record for looking the least like his parents. He was tall enough to be a guard in the NBA but with the bulk to be a linebacker. In fact, he was one and the captain of his college football team. His team had an off year but was expected to compete for a conference title and a bowl bid next season. In fact, the only things he inherited from his parents were his mother's green eyes and his father's goofy personality.

"Morgan is never to be in charge of the tree again," Stephen agreed with a grin, taking off his jacket hanging it on the coat rack with Lara's, who walked into the kitchen to help with the dinner.

"Where's Liam?" Lara asked of her old chess opponent, eager for a game. Lara and her husband had gotten to know him once again, inviting him to their place in some nights for dinner when they weren't all busy. Although many things about him had changed, Lara was glad that her dear friend was still the same kind soul underneath. She looked positively ravishing and very formal her husband thought so, later tonight they would celebrate their own way.

"Yeah where is Billy boy?" Devon asked.

Sarah snorted a laugh. "Working out." She was still getting used to seeing her son's athletic physique in contrast to the lanky shape he once had. Then again, her husband started the same way and added a few pounds of muscle to his frame. _Like father, like son._

"What? No it can't be." Devon opened the door to the workout room. To his surprise, there he was working out on the salmon ladder which Steven always favored. Devon watched Liam lift himself to the top, each rung as easy as the last. Once upon a time, he struggled just to lift himself up.

"That's...awesome!"

"Uncle Devon!" William grinned as he landed on the floor. He went over to hug his uncle, patting his spiky platinum blond hair, much like he did when he was a kid. "You still got hair! No wonder why your grin is permanent now!"

"And you got muscles, Billy boy!" Devon grasped the young man by his broad shoulders. "Looks like you've been training."

 _You don't know the half of it, Uncle Devon._ "I've been pumping weights at the gym most of the time. Talk later, I have to get ready." he patted his uncle's shoulder.

He turned and saw his other uncle who hadn't changed one bit, save some gray hair.

"Hey kiddo!" His Uncle Morgan was still the same old man-child despite his advanced age. He put an arm around the young man's shoulders. "I was at the 70th Comic Con and I thought of you. 'If only Will was here,' I told Marty and your old man. "You're the only other one of us who would have a blast."

"Uncle Morgan, I've thought of you too," Liam replied, pulling his uncle in for a hug. "And you, Marty! When did you turn into The Hulk?"

Liam was shocked that Marty was bigger than him now. Granted, it had been ten years, but the last thing one would expect from an offspring of Morgan Grimes and Alex McHugh would be for them to get three sacks and a pick-six against Michigan. In Ann Arbor, no less.

"Grandpa Casey took me out hunting during the summer."

 _Of course_ , Liam thought. _I knew Case had to be involved in this_.

"It's good to see you too," Marty said, putting an arm around his honorary brother. "We should play some football in the backyard later on. Stephen and I missed you the last few times."

"I missed you, too." Liam chuckled. "Just take it easy on us, huh? Save it for the draft in two years."

Liam took a quick shower and laid out his clothes right in front of him, a crimson red dress shirt and his signature Converse shoes. He heard lively talk downstairs, new arrivals had come for the party. He distinctly heard the gruff voice of his Uncle Casey. The man had been president of the NRA for a year now and still had the signed picture of Ronald Reagan he got almost sixty years ago.

"Hey, Liam. I was wondering if you wanted to play..." Lara slipped inside the half-open door and her breath hitched when she saw the scars on his left side. They looked like claw marks, but they were only half the problem as she spotted what looked like a healing bullet hole and another longer jagged scar on his right side. "Oh my God! How did you...?"

"You could knock first..." he growled quietly as he threw on the crimson red Oxford shirt in a hurry. He didn't want to get into a discussion about how he got those wounds, not that he could tell her if he wanted to. The claw marks on his left side were caused "The Lioness," his name for the assassin who attacked him a few years ago. Given the razor-sharp claws she wore on her fingernails, the nickname was certainly apropos. To this day, he still couldn't believe it was his grandmother Mary, of all people, to take the Lioness out.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have..." she said meekly in apology, her eyes focused on the ground. She knew she shouldn't broach the subject, but she did remind him before if he wanted to talk she had a listening ear. "What happened to you?"

Several theories were racing in her mind and one was the unthinkable. _No, it couldn't be…_

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. When those monks found me, I was pretty beat up, even had a fever for a couple of days. But they gave me some of that herbal medicine and it worked like a charm." He gave her a gentle smile. "Not to worry. We still have that rematch scheduled."

He put on a black blazer over the crimson shirt. He was quite happy to play Lara in chess, even though she was clearly the better player, having been president of the Chess Club in high school for a reason. But Liam wouldn't mind a few games at this point. It reminded him of simpler times, and not having to worry about the next clown was who wanted to harm his fellow citizens was something he could use.

Walking downstairs, he saw the massive frame of his Uncle Casey talking with his father and brother. His head full of snow white hair, looking like a wise sage. The former marine turned and grinned seeing his godson.

"Come here, kid!" Casey grunted taking the young man into his powerful arms. Liam could feel his ribs straining against his uncle's hug. _That's the one thing Russians do well. Give hugs_ , his uncle once told him. No wonder the NSA paid him an insane amount of money not to retire.

"Hiya, Uncle Case. Long time, no see." Casey was the one person who made Liam still feel like a little kid; not even his parents could do that.

"Oh my god, William!" Alex McHugh placed her arms around him, the petite woman with the second-strongest hug Liam knew, was among the many in the room who held him as a baby. Unlike her too-laid-back husband, she was so wired she could make coffee nervous. Understandable this week, given the week the outgoing Secretary had just finished. Not to mention her boss was thinking of resigning.

"Hiya, Auntie Alex," he said all, nervous he saw his brother straining to hold a laugh when Lara slapped his arm.

"I know, right?" Elsa, Alex and Morgan's daughter, said from behind Liam. "Mom, that scrawny kid grew muscles. Good Lord, they look like they've been carved from granite!" Elsa playfully punched Liam's arm and feigned breaking all the bones in her hand.

"Just exercise, Elsa. And being the handyman at my workplace helps, too."

Liam went over to his father who motioned for him to come closer. He was holding a box with an unusual design.

"Here's something mom wanted you to have," Chuck said as he handed his son the old wooden oak box. Liam opened it to reveal a peculiar key, flat with thick teeth like a comb. On it was something inscribed in Ottoman Turkish. It was one of the few languages he didn't speak, but a quick look online would give him an answer. On the inside of the box was a set of coordinates.

"She never did anything halfway," he said with a smile as he glanced over to Lara, who was already setting up the chessboard near the fireplace.

Stephen made his way over to Uncle Casey. He wanted to ask him about this mysterious man known as the Detective. Ordinarily he would have considered talking to his parents, but he didn't want him to worry. Besides, with the clearances in the government Casey still had, he could find out more than anyone. Sure enough, Uncle Casey had a theory for him.

"I once was stationed at the DMZ, looking north towards those Commie bastards. A few of the locals told me this five hundred year old myth about a group that were said to travel between this world into the next. These guys were known as the Order of the Shapeless Ones. They were founded in the early Tokugawa period. Assassins, really secret society type of thing, very skilled, they could appear and disappear as if they were shadows. They could hide themselves pose as anyone. Supposedly they disbanded over a hundred years ago only to continue their activities at a much more concealed way. Now I'm not normally one to believe stories like that, but this Detective fellow is probably some very skilled agent working for some organization."

"Maybe. I'm curious about who he really is. I mean, he talked like a scientist but spoke like Peter Parker."

"You're better off not knowing. Think about it, this guy does this all the time, right? Wears a mask, slips back into the shadows, his own family probably doesn't know a thing. I can relate to that. So can your parents."

Casey took a sip of his beer. "Trust me kid, we've had to keep our former lives quiet to protect those dearest to us. It hurts like a son of a bitch, but we had to do it."

* * *

The party was in full swing. Devon, Ellie and Pedro all talked rather excitedly about the latest techniques in surgery. Liam was having a blast playing chess with his sister-in-law. Casey talked to his only granddaughter, laughing at her stories. Stephen lectured Marty on the latest nutritional plans, although it seemed every other word was 'protein'.

Lara moved her bishop to set up her attack against Liam's queen. "Our honeymoon was in Hawaii. There was this little place serves great food at a decent price. Stephen even wrote me some poetry, I never knew that kid who joked around a lot to be so romantic." Lara giggled uncontrollably.

Liam smiled. He wished Maria could have enjoyed this night, but she had been sent to Philadelphia to find whoever killed Shaw. They suspected one of Mortley's men.

"I have to admit, he did have good handwriting. Tops in his English class," Liam said as he moved his knight to counter Lara's attack.

"You have anyone in your life?"

"No...no I don't have a significant other. I have too much work and not enough time," Liam lamented. _If only it was that simple_ , he thought.

"Stephen and I have a lot on our plates, but we make it work," Lara said assuredly. "You're a kind, decent man and what woman can resist those baby blues?" she teased poking him in the arm.

He gave a playful growl as he captured her rook. "You always know what to say, huh?"

She gave an innocent shrug of her shoulders. "Doesn't come easy. I once called this judge a moron. He threatened to toss me in the can for contempt, but I won the case in the end."

"You always did have that temper on you. You chewed my ass out that one time..." He started to laugh…and then he saw the board.

"Check and mate!" she grinned wickedly.

Liam threw his hands up in surrender. "You got me."

"Dinner's ready!"

Most of the guests sat at the fifteen foot dinner table, Liam sat next to his Uncle Casey who grinned at the young man. In front of him sat Stephen and Lara, who couldn't stop making googly eyes at one another. The feast was a wondrous sight: roasted chicken, a pot roast, yams, mashed potatoes, collard greens, rigatoni with tomato sauce, tuna fillet, his own lahmacun, his Aunt Ellie's pulled pork, Aunt Gertrude's Syrniki, Lara's spicy tomato arroz rice dish, and Alex's shepherd's pie. It was an old Coburn family recipe carried over by Aidan Coburn, a tough Irishman who grew up fighting in the streets of Galway. He immigrated to America in the mid 1920's as a young lad, eventually becoming a master chef.

Chuck stood up and clinked his wine glass. Everyone fell silent. "First of all, I wanted to say it's great to see all of you. I'm freaking stoked." Everyone laughed at that.

"Nice to see you too, Uncle Chuck," Marty replied. "You have more energy than most of the guys on my team."

"But I'm even happier about this holiday. A week ago our baby boy came back to us. I would like to use this occasion to…"

Chuck fell silent and looked down, overcome with emotion. He put his hand on his wife's shoulder, who was teary-eyed as well. Chuck moved over a spot to where Liam was and grasped his son's shoulder. Liam felt all eyes on him, and a rosy blush came to his cheeks. He finally understood what all of them had gone through. He had died in their hearts and they had to move on. And now they had him back.

"He was older, scruffier, had the build of Hercules! All these years, a place was missing at this table, we could have filled with an LMD."

Most of the table laughed at that. Casey gave everyone a weird look and turned to his grandson.

"I'll explain later, Grandpa," Marty said about the comic book reference Chuck just used regarding a Life Model Decoy.

"But seriously," Chuck continued. "This Christmas I also wanted to celebrate his return back to us safe and sound. Welcome home, William!"

Everyone raised their glass. "Welcome home!

"To my little brother!" Stephen said proudly. "We have to run together one of these days."

"To the no-longer-geeky Liam. Who inherited all of his mother's traits and was kind enough to only inherit the stuff from his father that doesn't drive me up a wall," Casey said with a roaring laugh.

"And to Mom, who remains one hell of a Scrabble player!" They all toasted for Grandmother Bartowski.

"So Will, what did you do last Christmas?" asked Elsa as she piled food on her plate.

"Me? Nothing fancy, just some skydiving..." Liam said dismissively, trying some of Lara's arroz. _From about 350,000 feet...landed near... St. John's, Newfoundland. But no big deal._

"We celebrated until midnight by which time, Uncle Casey scored a touchdown!" Stephen added, grinning at his uncle.

"You betcha kid!" grunted Casey boastfully.

"What do you do in the Buy More?" asked a curious Marty.

"I thought Mom and Dad told everyone. I'm a jack of all trades. I do a lot of different things," he said, chewing on a piece of roast chicken. _I've been to outer space, too. But you're not supposed to know that, either..._

Liam looked around the table at his family, laughing, talking, and enjoying each other's company. Constance teasing Marty like she's done since they were kids, Stephen and Lara laughing at one of his father's jokes. Something inside of him warmed up and it wasn't the heating system. He felt the same thing with Qiu, with Autumn, the family he had made in the last few years. And now the family that had found him again. He felt something inside of him flutter.

It was happiness. For the first time in a long, long time, he was truly happy.

 _TO BE CONTINUED..._


End file.
